Can't Get You off My Mind
by DianaMC
Summary: Sky and Remus have been best friends forever.When they meet James and Sirius at Hogwarts, life can only get more exciting!Friendship, tears, love, fights, and plenty of drama is what Hogwarts has in store for these marauders.Rated M for adult situations
1. I Won't Go Without You

Chapter One: I Won't Go Without You

They impatiently waited upstairs in the sunlit bedroom. A young girl and boy sat hand in hand as antsy as an eleven year old could possibly get. The girl was small with dark, wavy hair that fell down to her waist. Her sharp blue eyes were filled up with tears and puffy as her nose turned pink from her crying. The sandy haired boy ran his hand through his hair and then put it around her shoulder in comfort. He squeezed her tightly and fought strongly to hold back his own tears.

He had no clue what was going to happen. Remus couldn't tell Sky it was going to be alright because he didn't believe it himself. See, Remus knew what was going on downstairs. His mother was sitting at the kitchen table, a worried yet hopeful look across her face. Then his father must have been pacing in and out of the room telling himself it was his entire fault. The kitchen window was open as high as it could go and the green wooden shutters had been pushed out letting the warm summer breeze blow into the messy kitchen.

It'd been like this for days. Ever since they found out Remus might not be able to attend school. All the other schools had turned him down and Hogwarts was his last chance. At first, Remus hadn't had the heart to tell Sky about the problem but then he felt it was unfair. It was just yesterday he had walked across the field and through her mother's garden to break the news to his best friend. She laughed at him at first and told him to stop playing around, but when she realized it wasn't a joke, well, she broke down into tears.

"You know, maybe it won't be that bad if you go without me! I mean, you'd come home for holidays and I would write you everyday." Remus said in hope that it would cheer the poor girl up.

She pulled her hair out of her face and tucked it back into a ponytail. After she had wiped her eyes clear of all the tears she simply said, "I already told you Remus, I won't go without you."

"Sky, that's absolutely ridiculous. You can't just NOT go to school. It's important, plus your parents will make you."

"Then I'll run away. You know I could! We know the woods inside and out and there's no way my mother could find me in there if I was to leave!" ,She then threw her feet over the side of Remus's bed turning away from him, her arms crossed in a childish manner.

_Sky was so stubborn sometimes_, thought Remus, _She knows how dangerous that forest is._ "The woods? Of all places you would run away you would go there! After what happened to me! Real smart Sky. Let me know how that plan works out for you." Remus then stood up to leave the room, obviously bothered by what Sky had said.

"No, Remus wait, I'm sorry. Like you always tell me, think before I speak. Sometimes the words come out to fast I just don't get a chance. Listen, I don't want to go to Hogwarts without you. If you can't get in there then we will just have to find an alternative. You are and you have always been my best mate and there's no way I could possibly face school without you! Plus, when I write letters my jokes never sound half as funny."

Remus turned around with a grin on his face. He couldn't help but laugh because she was right, her jokes never sounded funny on paper. He walked over to Sky and put his arms around her, "What would I do without you?"

"It's quite possible you would die of complete and utter boredom", and with that she pulled away and winked up at Remus. He playfully punched her in the arm and went and sat back down on the bed. She walked across the room and opened Remus's window. She poked her head outside to see what was going on in their small valley on this bright and sunny day. Sky lived just across the way from Remus's house, and though her family did have more money than his their houses were very similar and modest. They spent almost everyday together ever since they were little. If they weren't helping their parents with daily housework like cooking, cleaning, or gardening then they were running around in the meadows and exploring the beautiful countryside in which they lived. It was only after the night of the full moon that they had stopped exploring the forest behind Remus's house. It wasn't that Sky was afraid or anything, it was more of the fact that both their parents had forbidden it and Sky knew Remus never wanted to go back again. She respected Remus and she knew that if it hadn't been for Remus then it would have been her rather than him, so she didn't push him to go back. It was just then, as Sky was staring at the dark green trees below her, that she saw a large barn owl flying through the clouds right towards Remus's cottage.

"REMUS! ITS HERE!", Sky jumped pulling her head out of the window and turning to face the handsome boy sitting on the bed across from her, "Your letter!"

They both stared at each other for a minute before it clicked. Then together the two ran for his door, fighting over the door handle, and down the stairs into the kitchen where his parents were waiting. The barn owl flew right in through the open window above the sink and landed gracefully on the kitchen table in front of Remus's mother. She looked wishfully up at her son and then turned to the owl to take the letter. She held the letter up to Remus inviting him to open it but when he looked down at his feet she took that as a signal to open it herself. His father had come up behind the two children and placed a strong hand on Remus's shoulder in support. Remus's mother unsealed the letter and began to read, slowly tears started to pour from her eyes as she continued to read. When she finished she simply looked up at the three and said, "Bless Albus Dumbledore."

She didn't even need to say anymore. They all understood what she meant. Sky squealed in excitement and jumped in the air. Remus stared into his mothers deep blue eyes and could feel exactly what she was feeling…hope. There was still hope for Remus. Yes, he was a werewolf but look at him. He had a family that loved him, a best friend who would never leave his side and an acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Sky pulled her hair out of her ponytail and started to swing her long wavy locks around in circles as she danced in celebration. Remus's father had joined his mother at the table hugging her as she cried. Remus thought to himself, _I'm going to Hogwarts, I'm going to Hogwarts with my best friend and nothing is going to stop us!_

Sky finally finished her celebration dance and turned to Remus. She grabbed him by both shoulders and yelled, "Pack your bags baby! We've got a train to catch!!!" She hugged him tightly and laughed. She thought to herself, I'm_ going to Hogwarts with my best friend, and I know it's going to be the time of our lives!_ She then turned to Remus and asked, "How many bags do you think we're allowed to bring? I have an awful amount of shoes." Remus just grinned, _girls._

_Disclaimer: I unfortunately didn't create Remus, Sirius, James, or any of JKs other characters you will see! But Sky is all mine!_

_Hope you all enjoyed my first chapter! Remember it's my first fanfic so please be gentle! Haha! _


	2. Win Me Over with that Smile

Chapter Two: Win Me Over with that Smile

The next few days were spent packing bags and preparing for the journey to the school. Sky's mother had taken Remus and Sky to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies such as wands, books, writing materials, robes, and she even bought one gift for each of the kids as a going away present. Sky bought a strapless yellow sundress she planned on wearing when they went to the train station and Remus got "Claws, Fangs, and Tails: Your Everyday Guide to Magical Creatures", a book he had his eye on for weeks. It was the night before they were to go to the Platform 9 ¾ and Sky had been over at Remus's side of the valley down by the lake. They sat together on a large rock, Sky's feet dangling over the side not able to reach the crystal clear water while Remus's splashed around making ripples in its smooth surface.

"Are you excited?" Sky finally asked Remus after about ten minutes of them sitting in silence.

"Nervous actually, it's easy for you to be excited, everyone's going to love you…they always do but me…what if people find out?" Sky could hear Remus's voice shake as he spoke. He really was nervous.

"Dumbledore's set everything up Remus, he has a system. Nobody will find out, plus, you'll have me to cover for you. Trust me, it will be great!" Before Remus had a chance to retaliate a voice carried over the cool night sky. It was Sky's father. He was calling her home. She jumped off the rock and into the water splashing Remus and herself knowing that keeping her father waiting would just ruin this perfect night. Her father worked at the Ministry and Sky really didn't know much about what he did. He was a short tempered man and in Sky's opinion he really didn't fit into her family, he was different than Sky and her mother. Her mother was a sweet, tender woman who insisted they call her by her first name, Naomi, so that they could be better friends. Next to Remus, Naomi was one of the only people in Sky's life she truly cared for. Her father was harsh and his friends frightened her. Fortunately for her, he was barely ever home and it was usually just Sky and Naomi at the dinner table.

After a quick jog back to her cottage, Sky burst through the door short of breath where she found her father sitting on the brown leather chair in their living room. Sky slowly walked into the living room so he would see she was home when he turned around and looked up at her. "Took you long enough. Do you always have to hang around with that boy? He's no good you know. Go upstairs and get into bed, we have to get up early if we want to catch the train."

And with that Sky obeyed her father. When she entered her bedroom her mother was sitting on the white lace blanket that lay delicately across Sky's bed, "Don't mind your father he's had a long day. We'll leave early tomorrow morning and we've arranged a ministry car to pick us up. The Lupins will be joining us." Naomi stood up and kissed her daughter on the forehead before leaving the room. Sky fell back onto her bed looking up at the ceiling. She thought back to the night when Remus and she had spent hours painting stars and moons all over the ceiling above Sky's bed. Ever since she would spend every night tracing the doodles with her eyes until she fell asleep; on this night, it took her twice as long.

* * *

The two families had met up early the next day to take the car to the train station. Though Sky's father wasn't fond of Remus he was kind to the family and never embarrassed Sky by being rude. They arrived at the train station early, with about 30 minutes to spare before the train left. Remus and Sky were extremely eager to get to the platform so their parents allowed them to run ahead while they took care of the bags.

Walking on the platform was more incredible than they could have ever imagined. Aside from the train being massive, the platform was filled with bustling families. Older students who obviously hadn't seen their fellow classmates all summer hugged each other yelling, "How was your summer!" and "You look so great!" The first years stuck out like sore thumbs. They were shy and most were small aside from Remus who Sky always thought was a bit tall for their age. The small children stood with their families with frightened look on their faces as they looked around at all the other students. Sky told herself she wouldn't be like that, she wasn't scared of older students and she wasn't scared of school, she wanted to be one of those first years who everyone knew and figured was a fourth year.

* * *

Nearby, a tall, shaggy haired boy stood leaning casually against a brick wall. His father stood next to him in deep conversation with someone who the boy thought looked stuck-up. This boy was Sirius Black. He couldn't wait to get onto that train and away from his ridiculous father; he looked around at all the _happy_ families saying their goodbyes to their children, fathers slapping their sons on the shoulder and mothers holding back tears.

One family especially caught his eye. A sweet looking women and her husband stood with their small son. The boy was thin with messy black hair and glasses. At first Sirius laughed at the boy for his awkward appearance, then he realized he shouldn't be laughing when that boy had everything he wanted. They all looked so happy. _Some kids are so lucky_, Sirius thought to himself, when in mid thought he felt his father's strong hand grabbing the back of his t-shirt.

* * *

When Remus and Sky's parents arrived on the platform Sky's father immediately grabbed Sky's arm and pulled her away from Remus, most likely to introduce her to someone she wouldn't like. Sky really felt this unnecessary being as she was completely capable of meeting and making her own friends. He dragged her over to a tall, handsome man with neat black hair and dark eyes.

"Orion! Good to see you! I'd like you to meet my lovely daughter Sky. Sky this is Orion Black, good friend of mine. Orion I assume you've bought your son with you." _This is pathetic; this was completely planned_, thought Sky. Just then Mr. Black turned around a grabbed the shaggy haired boy standing behind him by the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him into the conversation. The boy turned around and faced Sky. He had a look of annoyance across his face that instantly turned into a silly smirk the second their eyes met.

Orion Black introduced his son, "Thomas White! It sure has been a while. Sky my dear this is my son Sirius. You two are both in the same year and will be in the same house I presume."

After that the two men continued in their conversation completely ignoring their two children. Sky knew what Mr. Black had meant by his introduction. Sky's father was a Slytherin and by the looks of it, so was Mr. Black. Slytherins were _always_ so cocky and _always_ expected their children to follow in their footsteps. Sky had _always_ intended in following her mother's footsteps in becoming a Gryffindor and by the dirty look Sirius gave his father, Sirius planned on doing the same. After a moment or two of awkward silence, Sirius stepped forward and introduced himself, "Sirius Black, so does your father drive you as crazy as mine does?"

Sky giggle and simply replied, "Sky White, so are trying to win me over with that smile?"

"Well Sky White, is it working?"

"No, I have to go join my friend; he's waiting for me to board the train." She decided it was more fun to play hard to get rather than drool over Sirius's gorgeous features and cool grey eyes like many other girls would. So with that she winked at him, as she always had done playfully with Remus, and walked back in the direction of her best mate.

Sirius couldn't help but smile as Sky winked at him and he couldn't help but watch her walk away. Her yellow sundress hugged her body so you could see every curve and the light fell gently on her tanned shoulders. There was something about her that he liked, besides the fact that she was incredibly cute, she was witty and defiant, just like he was. He watched her as she walked up to a taller, skinny, sandy haired boy and hugged him. Before he had a chance to call out to her and tell her to meet him on the train, he was being dragged away by his father to board the train alone. _This should be an interesting year_, Sirius thought to himself as he ignored his fathers pointless lecturing about "representing the Black family".

Sirius boarded the train and walked down the red carpeted hallway. Most of the compartments were either completely filled or occupied by giggling girls that he didn't feel like dealing with. He finally came to one compartment at the end of the hallway. There was one boy sitting in it all alone and looking a bit too excited for his own good. Sirius did a double take and realized it was the boy he had watched on the platform just minutes before. Sirius opened the door and after getting a welcoming look from the boy, he took a seat just across from him next to the window. It wasn't seconds before the boy was introducing himself. "Hey! James Potter, first year." He then stuck out his hand expecting Sirius to shake it, "How about you? What house do you think you'll be in? Did you hear they don't let first years try out for Quidditch! I'm -"

Before James could get another word in Sirius put his hand up silencing him, "Seriously, breathe." Sirius wasn't easily won over by people; they had to show him something interesting about themselves, give Sirius something intriguing, to get his full attention. Sirius introduced himself to James, though he wasn't very interested in anything else he had to say, "I'm Sirius Black, first year."

James let his hand fall back down to his side when Sirius ignored it and slid it into his jeans pocket. He wanted to make friends at Hogwarts but it seemed like he'd gotten shacked up with the most uninterested person on the train, "Sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous…do you know any spells yet?"

"Nah…"

Suddenly a very mischievous look fell across James's face. He leaned in closer to Sirius and said in a low voice, "Well, maybe I could show you some. My dad's been teaching me some jinxes behind my mom's back all summer and I've been testing them on the neighbor's house elves."

Sirius, who had been looking out the window, looked over at James. _Jinxes? Hmm, maybe this kid isn't that bad_. After smirking at James he leaned in and simply replied, "I wouldn't mind learning some jinxes."

* * *

Sky could see that Remus was nervous and when she had joined him after her little rendezvous with the Blacks he was very relieved. Sky's father was too busy to say goodbye to her so when they departed it was just her mother and the Lupins. Sky saw the tears well up in her mothers' eyes and had to fight her way out of the tight embrace. Sky and Remus boarded the train together and Remus led their way down the hallway of compartments. Remus couldn't seem to find a compartment that would fit the both of them so they made their way to the end of the train. There Remus found one compartment left with only two boys in it. The boys had their dark heads of hair leaned in and they seemed to be whispering. The smaller boy with glasses had his wand out and was showing the other boy different wrist movements.

Remus knocked on the compartment door before opening it; the two boys looked up. "D-Do you mind? Everywhere else is full." asked Remus.

"Of course they don't mind" Answered Sky as she gracefully squeezed her way past Remus sitting next to James. Sirius looked up and smiled at Sky as she sat down and introduced herself to James, "Hi! I'm Sky White and this is Remus Lupin. You are?" She had gestured Remus to sit down but she hesitated. Sirius was giving him an awkward look.

"I'm James Potter, nice to meet you, and this is Sirius Bla-" Answered James but before he could finish introducing Sirius, Sirius had interrupted him.

"Yea we've met. He your boyfriend?" Sirius said shortly as he stared up at Remus even though the question was obviously directed to Sky. He was thrown off guard when Sky and Remus began to laugh uncontrollably. Remus fell back into the chair next to Sirius and shook his head. They were four very different people. They came from four very different families. Yet, somehow, they had everything in common and without even realizing it, they instantly clicked.

* * *

_There you have it! Second Chapter…I hope you're enjoying it and please, please review so I know what I need to work on! I know it a bit choppy, jumping back and forth bewteen the different characters but that was just temproary until they had all met. Now that they all know each other it shouldn't jump around as much. I'm having a lot of fun writing it and I'll try to update ASAP but I must keep up with school work…yuck! Haha!_

_-Diana_


	3. Don't Want To Topple Over

Chapter Three: Don't want to topple over!

The quad jumped off the train only to get lost in a crowd of students. Before they knew it, the four newly found friends were separated. James searched the crowds for any sign of one of his fellow first years but he couldn't seem to find them anywhere. That's when it happened; when James's eyes fell on her. She was but a few feet away from him standing with a small crowd of girls. Her hair was a gorgeous red that fell gently over her shoulders. It wasn't until their eyes met that he saw the emerald green sparkle that stole his heart. Noticing his stares, the beautiful red head turned away quickly, linking arms with her friends, and hurried away.

Seconds later James felt a tug on the back of his shirt. It was Sky. "James, where have you been? Have you seen the other guys? I lost them off the train; it's crazy out here, where are we supposed to go?"

Before James even had a chance to answer a loud strong voice echoed over the crowd. There was a extremely large and hairy man standing at the end of a small dock calling the first years over to board the tiny boats, "Four to a boat! No More! Please, First years this way! Stay seated in the boat, don't want to topple over!"

Defeated in their search for Sirius and Remus, James and Sky squeezed through the crowds and made their way over to the boats. The two first years boarded a boat together and waited impatiently for two more first years to fill the empty seats. Right as a small, mousy haired boy and a frightened looking blonde girl were about to get into the boat with Sky and James a voice called over the crowd.

"James! Sky! Wait up!" James and Sky turned around only to see Sirius and Remus running toward them.

"Shove off!" scolded Sirius as he pushed the mousy haired boy out of the way and sat next to James.

"Excuse me…sorry" Remus came up behind Sirius, apologizing to the small boy for his friend's rude behavior and giving the blonde girl a sympathetic look as he took her seat.

When all the boats were filled they took off across the black lake. It was truly a beautiful sight, there was a half moon out and its light shot off the lake illuminating the boats as they floated gently across the way. The stars reflection fell across the dark water like little fireflies making the lake look more like the sky then a lake at all. Sirius was staring down into the water looking extremely curious and perhaps leaning a little too far over the edge for Remus's comfort.

"Sirius are you dense? Lean over a little farther and we'll all be taking a bath. What are you looking for anyway?"

"I've heard there's this huge squid that lives in this lake. I bet we can see it if we look hard enough for it!" And with that Sirius continued his search for the squid.

Next to Sirius, James was searching the boats for the beautiful red head he had spotted in the crowds before. He was extremely curious to what year she was. She looked a bit like a first year, but she could have been older. He continued his search and thought to himself, _where is she? I have to find her. Those eyes._

"You know James; the squid is _IN_ the water. You're never going to find it looking up." Sky smiled to herself wondering what on earth James was looking for. She decided to help Sirius look for this "giant" squid and leaned over her side of the boat. Just as her eyes hit the water she saw a huge shadow pass by below them.

"WOAH! Sirius I think I saw it!" She yelled leaning even farther over the wooden edge. Without even one thought Sirius dove to Sky's side of the boat and leaned over the edge with her. Right then they saw it swim by again causing the two to lean even farther over the edge.

"You two seriously! The boat is completely unbalanced." yelled Remus as he leaned to the opposite side trying to maintain some equilibrium. Unfortunately for Remus, at that exact moment James's eyes fell on the stunning girl in which he'd been searching for.

"There she is!" James's exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and pointed out in her direction. Without even a moment to spare, the boat lost any balance it had left and flipped completely over. Sirius and Sky fell in head first grabbing each other, the cool water hitting them right in the face, poor Remus was sent feet over head as he tried desperately to grab for the side of the boat, and James was shot straight into the air, hitting the water a few feet away from their boat.

Sky and Sirius, suddenly very aware that they were sharing the water with a giant squid, fought with each other trying to get back onto the boat. Remus, frustrated, swam his way back over to the side, flipped the boat back over, and climbed his way back on. Sirius and Sky kept fighting each other, trying to use one another to get back onto the boat. Remus sat laughing as he watched the two struggle. James sat floating in the water; when he noticed the red-head was watching him as her friends laughed he poked his head just above the water and gave her a goofy smile. They all giggled and blushed, except the red-head, she just turned away.

"Get in here mate!" Sirius grabbed James by the back on his robes and pulled him back onto the boat. Minutes later the four were back on land and sloshing their way up to the castle.

"You're all complete idiots! Now we have to get sorted looking like swamp creatures!" Remus was trying frantically to make himself look decent as they waited outside the dinner hall doors. Their black robes were dripping and all four of them were ringing out their hair.

Sirius, James, and Sky were hysterical laughing and Sirius fought strongly to get out one sentence as he shook his head like a dog, "Oh we look fine…just a little…damp"

Just then the large oak doors opened and the first years walked into the hall. There were four long tables positioned perpendicular to one large table at the head of the hall. The table at the front of the room was occupied by all the teachers at Hogwarts including Headmaster Dumbledore and the large man they'd seen back at the dock. Each of the four long tables consisted of the students from the four different houses and in front of the teachers table was one stool with an old raggedy hat upon it. Suddenly the hat came to life and through a slit like mouth at the rim came a silly, rhyming song about the fun and adventures found at Hogwarts. When the hat finished its song the hall erupted in cheers. A tall, thin, women with her hair pulled back into a tight bun and horn-rimmed glasses who went by the name Professor McGonagall then came from around the teacher's table and picked up the hat in her right hand. In her left hand was a slightly long list which seconds later they discovered was a list of the first year's names.

"Black, Sirius."

Out of the four friends, Sirius was the first to be called. He ran his hand through his shaggy hair and strutted his way up to the stool. Professor McGonagall looked at him with a questioning look as to why he was so wet. Throughout the hall the students giggled and muttered to themselves. Once everyone was quiet, the hat was placed on Sirius's head. The second the cloth touched his hair, a voice erupted in his head.

"Hmm another Black?! I know exactly where you belong…"

Sirius had looked up over at the Slytherin table. There sat his older cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa looking proudly at him, or more at the fact that he was simply a Black. _No! I won't. Don't put me with them. I'm not like them, I'm different! _

And with that the hat shouted loudly from Sirius's head, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table cheered loudly to welcome their new peer. Sirius stood quickly as a chill ran down his spine. Had he really just heard what he thought he did! He was a Gryffindor! Sirius turned over to the Slytherin table to see his two cousins with shock in their eyes and jaws dropped low. He simply shrugged his shoulders and turned to the table at which he belonged. With a satisfied smile on his face he strolled casually over to his rightful table.

Between Sirius and Remus a few more students were shorted. The red-head James had been drooling over went by the name Lily Evans and she along with a boy named Frank were sorted into Gryffindor. Remus's sorting took a while. The hat was extremely surprised when it touched his head, instantly knowing about his condition. After a few minutes of pondering, the hat rightfully placed Remus in Gryffindor with the others. James was quickly shorted there as well without even seconds of the hat being on his heads. After James came the mousy haired boy Sirius had stolen the boat seat from back at the docks, his name was Peter and he too joined the red and gold table. A greasy, scrawny boy was shorted into Slytherin and Sky couldn't help but shuttered as he walked past her up to the stool. Sky was the final first year. As she walked up to the stool her heels squeaked loudly from the water stuck in them, even though she was lucky she still had shoes at all. The hall broke out in giggles at the silly noise her shoes made and when she sat on the stool Professor McGonagall gave her the same odd look she'd given the three boys.

"Hmmm, White? Father was a Slytherin but your mother was a Gryffindor, isn't that correct?" _unfortunately_, thought Sky. "You defiantly have the powers of your father, but the heart of your mother. I think the heart overcomes the power though. Yes defiantly…you certainly belong in…GRYFFINDOR!"

Sky jumped quickly out of the seat, pulled off her squeaky shoes and skipped over to the boys sitting together at the table. The three boys cheered loudly as she came to join them. Shortly after, Professor Dumbledore rose and held his hands up in the air silencing the giggles and chatting crowd.

"Welcome everyone, old and new! Well, from the looks of it we have a very exciting year ahead of us. I see we had a bit of trouble on the way over?" He tilted his head toward Sirius, Sky, Remus, and James and, looking over his thin glasses, smiled brightly at them and let out a hearty laugh, "At least next year you get to take the carriage across so no worries over rocky boats. Now on further new…" Dumbledore went further in explaining how a few things went about the school and naming the forbidden areas as well. "Well enough of the boring matter let us eat!" Within seconds the hall was bustling and everyone was filling their faces with food.

Sky looked up and down the table, the girls in her year seemed pretty nice and she was getting extremely excited to make her way up to the dorms. She then looked at Remus. She'd never seen him so happy. He was so worried about not being able to make friends, she thought he was crazy. He was the sweetest, most caring and sincere person she'd ever know in her life, how could everyone not love him. Remus looked up at Sky and without even words they knew what the other was thinking. He leaned over and gave her a big hug. "You were right; this is going to be incredible."

* * *

The dorms were incredible. Each one consisted of the appropriate number of curtain draped beds with dressers and desks. The windows were tall and the moonlight shot through the crystal glass. Everything was Gryffindor gold and red, even the common room down below. The common room was cozy, with oversized armchairs, couches and a blazing warm fireplace. Everyone was extremely excited when they entered the room and, once pointed in the right direction, raced upstairs to claim their beds. Naturally, Sirius and James were the first two to bolt for the stairs, fighting and pulling their way up to get the best spot. When Remus and the other first year Gryffindor boys entered the room, Sirius and James were sitting on their beds, placed next to each other, trying to catch their breath. Remus chose the bed next to Peter, who Remus thought was really nice just a bit shy, and started to change and unpack.

"Oh man just relax. We have all year to unpack!" exclaimed Sirius as he fell onto his back, his wet head hitting the pillow.

"Rather get it over with now. Trust me, next week I'll have everything where I need it and you'll be frantically searching for your left shoe." The boys all laughed as Sirius got up and tended to his bags.

* * *

Up the second set of stairs was the girl's dormitory. Sky let the other girls run ahead and grab their beds first, mainly because she didn't care where her bed was and second because she had too many bags to run up the stairs with. She grabbed as many as she could and hauled her way up the stairs and into the dorm. All the girls were running around unpacking and settling in. She took the last bed next to Alice, Sky was happy, she had spoken momentarily with Alice and she seemed really friendly.

"You do have an awful lot of bags don't you?" asked Alice. Sky couldn't help it. She was an only child and she couldn't deny that her family had a lot of money, but she did like to be as modest as she could be, even is her mother brought her a new dress every time they left the house.

"Hah yea I guess I tend to over pack." She giggled as she left the room to go get the rest of her luggage. When we walked down the stairs she found Remus standing next to her trunk.

"Missed me already, huh?"

"Well, I figured I'd come help you bring up your bags and then I remembered what I read in _Hogwarts a History _aboutthe girl's staircase."

"Oh yea that's right, shame, now I have to carry them all myself! So how're the roommates?" she asked him concernedly as she sat down on her oak trunk.

"Fun actually. Sirius and James have taken a strong liking to each other as you inevitably noticed. Then there's Frank and Peter who are real nice. Don't mind it at all really."

"Yea? Well I'm glad you're comfortable so far. I'd better bring the rest of these up though, I'll see you in the morning, wait for me for breakfast OK!?" Sky grabbed what was left of her luggage and trotted off up the stairs shouting goodnight behind her.

"REMUS! Get up here mate! We're going to play some chess, you in?!" Remus heard Sirius call down from the top of the staircase.

Remus watched as his best friend made her way up the stairs away from him. He was afraid that they would grow apart when they came to Hogwarts, it was really one of his biggest fears but as he watched her walk away he knew that it could never happen. They knew too much about each other, they were practically siblings. You can't just forget people in the blink of an eye.

"Yea man, I'm coming!"

* * *

Up in the girls' dormitory the girls were chatting like crazy. Lily had begun to unpack her clothing and placing them in the dresser next to her bed. She wasn't sure how she felt about her roommates yet. Honestly, anything could be better than her sister back home who was currently shunning her. She really liked a few of the girls, even if they were a bit girly compared to herself, but Lily always found herself to judge people on first impressions and sometimes that was a bad trait that she tried so hard to push away. She already found herself sick of a few of the boys that unfortunately got sorted into the same house as her. Especially that Potter kid, _the games keeper purposely told us not to stand up in the boats, what if someone couldn't swim _she thought to herself. Then there was that long haired girl. _I mean honestly, what type of girl takes off their shoes during sorting, disrespectful if you ask me, not very lady like at all. _She was doing it again, _stop it Lily they're probably nice people._

Just then Sky came into the room and changed out of her wet clothing quickly. She then clunked her trunk in the front of her bed and opened it up. Sky had packed her nice sun dresses in her trunk along with her school materials in fear that they would get ruined in her other luggage. One by one, Sky hung her dresses into the wardrobe that sat against the wall.

"Oh those are beautiful!" Shouted Alice as she ran over to the wardrobe and pulled out the cherry red dress Sky had just hung up.

"Oh thanks, I got that one in Madrid. My family traveled a lot before school, guess they figured they'd never see me against once I started"

One of the other girls jumped off her bed and ran over to Sky's end of the room, shortly followed by the brunette whose bed was on the other side of Alice's, "Look at her shoes!"

"Oh how lovely! Are these from Madrid too!?"

Sky looked up from her unpacking and answered, "Oh no, um…those I got in Italy I think." She could see Lily sitting on her bed roll her eyes. She was trying really hard to be modest but it was hard with all the questions they were asking.

Lily sat, book in her lap, watching the girls. They fawned over Sky's clothing like that's all there was to life. Lily realized her and Sky were nothing alike. Lily was simple; she dressed casually in jeans and honestly didn't care too much as to how she looked or what people thought of her. Sky obviously thought looks were the world, why else would someone grow their hair so long and elegant and brag about buying dresses in different countries. Lily let her eyes fall back down on the book waiting for the excitement over Sky's wardrobe to settle.

"So how about those boys! Aren't the Gryffindors defiantly the cutest? Oh I'm Audrey by the way in case you didn't hear during sorting." Said the girl with short brown choppy hair; her eyes were light green and her skin was pale.

"I'm Bridget, and YES they are adorable." Answered the thin girl with curly dirty blonde hair, "especially that Sirius, dreamy huh?!"

"What about the blonde boy! Oh, what was his name I can't remember?"

"Remus," interrupted Sky as she looked up over at the girls, she had moved onto unpacking her smaller bags after the girls returned to their beds and started talking boy talk, talk Sky was very much not really interested in at the moment. "His name is Remus."

"That's right you were sitting with a couple of those boys at dinner weren't you?" asked Alice as all the girls looked over and stared at Sky. Even Lily had abandoned her book to see what Sky would say.

"Well, yes of course. They're my friends, we all rode over on the train together, and well I've know Remus since I can remember."

"Really? Well aren't you lucky!" yelled Bridget as her and Audrey started giggling. Apparently they found this as an advantage for Sky. Like Sky was really looking for a potential relationship. She just happened to have a lot in common with the guys and she never really thought anything of it.

Sky looked over at Lily who was slightly laughing to herself. Lily had been watching Sky and noticed the confused look on her face when the girls seemed so impressed by her quick friendship with three boys.

"Oh yea, you know me, I like to get in on the goods nice and early." said Sky sarcastically. Lily laughed, maybe she and Sky had more in common than she thought; at least they both found the idea of dating one of those boy completely ridiculous.

* * *

_Well there you have it! Sorry took me a bit to get the chapter done...I've been way to busy for life to handle! Hope you liked it, I was trying to figure out if JK had ever mentioned any of the other girls and guys in the marauders years but Lily, Alice, and Frank were all I knew. So if anyone knew any of the others I'd like to know pretty please so I could use real names rather than made up ones ha. The rest of 1st and 2nd year aren't too elaborate and the real stuff will start up more in the marauder's 3rd year. Please review!_


	4. Everyone Loves Me

Chapter Four: Everyone Loves Me!

The next few weeks flew by quicker than anyone had expected. The new first years didn't find the classes too difficult, well at least Sirius, James, Remus, and Sky. Sirius and James seemed to have a natural talent for magic. They barely practiced or studied yet they'd always be the first to get a spell in class, came in handy when they tended to lose points non stop outside the classroom. They seemed to take a liking to messing around with other students in the halls, jinxing and playing tricks every chance they got. James kept his word on the train; ever since their first night James had been showing Sirius all kinds of jinxes, and Sirius caught on quickly.

Sky too found a natural talent she never realized she had. As first years all their spells were simple and basic. When Sky practiced the spells in class she was average, nothing special, no exceptional talent. Yet when she put her wand down and thought about what she wanted to get done, it worked fantastically.

Remus on the other hand didn't have the natural talent the other boys found. Though, Remus was very organized and motivated. He studied and practiced every chance he got. His practice surely paid off though. Remus eventually found himself on the top of the charts, highest grades in their year.

Lily too didn't find too much trouble in the classroom. She seemed to catch on quickly. Being muggle born, she was worried she would find herself behind the other students that grew up in wizarding families but to Lily's surprise, she was better than most, right up there with Remus.

One afternoon in their potions class the students had been working on a simple sleeping drought as Professor Slughorn circled throughout the class directing and watching the students. There were cauldrons spread throughout the classroom on the desks, bubbling and boiling. Remus had paired up with Sky and they shared a table with Lily and Peter. James and Sirius were paired up together at the table behind them.

"Sky could you pass me my textbook?" Remus asked Sky as he was preparing the right amount of ingredients for the potion. Sky, having heard Remus's request, looked over at the book that sat at the edge of the table. Without even two seconds of thinking about the book it lightly lifted into the air and floated over into Sky's hands.

"Did you just do it again!?" asked Remus

"Well, I didn't really mean to. I mean we just learned levitation today in Charms and when you asked for the book I started thinking about the spell… and there you have it."

"You know there has got to be a name for that. Have you showed the teachers?"

"Well, I figured we're instructed to use our wands, I don't want to go showing off. Maybe it's not allowed."

Just then Lily leant over the table into Remus and Sky's conversation, "They're called non-verbal spells, or in you case wandless I suppose? Ironic that you're better at that then normal magic like the rest of us."

Sky didn't really take Lily's comment as a compliment; in fact she was a bit insulted in the way Lily made her sound weird. It wasn't that Sky and Lily didn't like each other or anything, it was just that they didn't particularly get along. The first few nights had gone pretty well between them, but then one day when Lily witnessed James showing Sky the bat-bogey hex he'd just taught Sirius, her view on Sky changed completely. Lily wasn't stupid like everyone else; she knew Sky wasn't the sweet princess everyone saw her for. She jinxed fellow peers and made fun of people just like the rest of her friends, with the exception of Remus. Lily personally didn't leave room in her life for people like them and she didn't see why they were so popular.

"Whatever, Remus lets just get this done so we can get out of class already, I'm starving." Sky went back to the textbook when seconds later Remus interrupted her reading.

"Hey Sky can I ask you something?" Remus had lowered his voice and was leaning his head in closer to his potion's partner. "Do you think the guys, or anyone in this case, has noticed my being gone so often?"

Sky understood exactly what Remus was speaking of. Remus had only experienced two full moons since they started school and so far everything has gone perfectly. Remus would be picked up by Professor McGonagall early in the evening of the moon and together they would leave the school. She would then escort Remus through a passage under the Whomping Willow on the school grounds and lead him to the Shrieking Shack. It was at the Shrieking Shack that Remus would transform into his hairy state, and in the morning, after beating and tearing himself apart, Madam Pomfrey would pick him up and take him to the hospital wing.

Remus's cover story was that his mother was very ill and that he needed to visit her often to make sure she was doing alright. Sky of course helped in supporting his story. Every time someone would bring up the subject of Remus's mother she would get all choked up and teary eyed. She'd even take the opportunity to beg Remus to let her come along to see his mother, but Remus always insist Professor McGonagall wouldn't allow it. _Drama queen, _Remus would always think to himself but then again he'd laugh and realize it wouldn't be Sky is she wasn't over exaggerating and making a scene.

In reality, Sky _had_ asked Remus if she could come with him. She hated the idea of him being locked up in a dingy, old shack all night by himself, especially on those nights. Back home Remus would have to spend the night alone in a locked room his parents had set up in the cottage, but at least there he wasn't completely alone. Sky would even spend the night over there occasionally to stay up and have tea with Remus's mother. They would talk about this and that and Sky could tell it helped his mother to have some company. She was still convinced that Remus could hear her talking through the door sometimes. She could specifically remember one night when she laid in front of the door and sang a simple song to Remus, she could swear he was listening and when they found him the next morning he was sleeping on the other side of the door laying just as Sky did on the opposite side.

"Remus, I've told you once and I'll tell you again. Nobody has noticed a thing. Trust me, I get all mopey and upset when you leave and talk about how I wish I could be there to support you. I'm not too sure the ice-queen buys it," Sky answered as she glanced over at Lily "but the boys eat right out of my hands. You have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Alright." He still didn't seem convinced only because he wasn't. He knew some people found it odd.

"Smile Remus, stop stressing over thing you can't control! Now help me finish this so we can go to lunch!"

With that, Sky playfully punched Remus in the arm and went back to work. Remus laughed and finished sorting the ingredients.

* * *

At the table behind Sky and Remus sat Sirius and James. The two were barely paying any attention to their assignment, not they had to pay any attention at all, Slughorn loved them and all they had to do was smile up at the professor whenever he passed by their table. Sirius was watching Remus and Sky attentively. His curious nature kicking in, he began to wonder what they were talking about. Yet, after a few minutes of watching Remus and Sky he suddenly found himself watching Sky's every move. He watched as she leaned over to whisper to Remus, her long locks of jet black hair falling over her tiny shoulders. She was messing around with Remus, hitting him in the arm, and batting her perfectly long eyelashes. Sirius couldn't help but stare.

Sirius then realized how obsessive he was being. Sky was his friend, he shouldn't stare at her, and after all, it was _Sky_! After realizing how un-smooth his behavior was he forced himself to look away only to notice his potions partner doing the exact same thing. James was leaning over on one elbow, head in his hands, smiling over at Lily. James loved her harsh qualities, the way she knew everything she talked about, how icy she came off. Yet, there was a soft side to Lily too, a side James had hoped to get to know better. Suddenly he felt Sirius looking at him. "What?"

"Why are you staring at Lily like that, you do know she can't stand you?"

"She's in love with me Sirius, didn't you know?"

Sirius broke out in laughter and grabbed James around his neck, messing up his hair with his free hand. "You're insane if you honestly believe that, plus, everyone loves me, not you!" and with that the two love-stuck eleven year olds finished their potion quickly before lunch.

* * *

As the year went on the four grew closer and closer together. They all seemed to have different things in common with one another. Sirius and James would spend hours laughing and making jokes, while Remus and Sky shared secrets and giggles like usual. James and Sky both enjoyed Quidditch and Sky had even gotten James into soccer, a Muggle sport she learned from watching Remus's TV back home. Sirius and Remus would talk about a lot of personal stuff, Sirius found himself able to talk to Remus very easily and he tended to open up a lot around him. James and Remus loved to play chess and playing each other was defiantly a challenge. Sirius and Sky's relationship was different; they could talk for hours and never get bored with one another.

Outside of their small group the first years were very well liked. Lily was really the only person they could say truly had a problem with them. The whole school found them fun, wild, and entertaining, some of the most interesting first years Hogwarts had ever come by. They were often invited to hang out with older students to play a round of Quidditch or maybe go to a late night party. The guys started to notice Peter trying to hang around with them more and more often. Though Remus didn't mind Peter, Sirius and James found him a bit of a tag along, but they liked the attention so they didn't mind.

"When do you think James and Sky will get back?" Sirius asked Remus one night as the two were sitting in front of the common room fireplace with Peter; Remus and Peter working on homework, and Sirius just twiddling his thumbs.

"Not sure, I'm sure they'll be back being as it's started to rain. You're quite antsy, why didn't you go to play with them?"

"Remus, you've seen me on a broomstick, it's humiliating. Rather spend my time here in the warm common room…dry!"

"You could've at least started Slughorn's essay on moonstones."

"Oh that? He gave me an extension."

"You're ridiculous." Remus shook his head as he turned back to Peter trying to explain to him the wrist motion they had learned in Charms that day.

Suddenly the Common Room door opened wide and the room filled with laughter and chatting; in came about ten Gryffindors soaking wet and covered in mud. James walked into the room broomstick thrown over his shoulder, his hair was a total mess and his fitted t-shirt stuck close to his body from either rain or sweat. Sky came in quickly behind him, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore a dirty wife-beater; she skipped into the room with a dirt stained soccer ball in her hands.

"See you guys later, we're gunna hit the showers" said one of the older Gryffindor girls as her and a few of the others headed up the stairs to the dormitory showers.

"Good game tonight Sky." Mentioned one of the fourth year boys as he walked by and squeezed her on the shoulder.

"See you tomorrow, Anthony" Sky answered back as she batted her black eyelashes. Remus had turned around and noticed the flirting going on behind him. _She is such a tease_, he thought to himself as he laughed.

James and Sky trotted over to their friends over on the couches and let themselves drop to the floor in front of the fire.

"So how long is it till finals again Remus?" asked Sky.

"They start in two weeks; you'd better get started on studying."

"Oh don't pressure us Remus; we've got plenty of time. Just because you'll be spending the next week studying your mind away doesn't mean we all can't have a little fun!" responded Sirius

"All I'm saying is you shouldn't leave it till last minute. The exams will sneak up on you before you even realize it."

"Well, I'm going to get all the Quidditch practice in that I can. I mean I only have so long to get into perfect shape! I mean to make the team you have to be-" but before James could finish, Sirius, Remus, Sky and Peter all finished mockingly "on top of your game and in peak shape."

They all broke out in laughter as James crossed his arms. How could they not know exactly what James was going to say, he _had_ been talking about nothing but Quidditch for a while.

"Well, I think it's about time I hit the showers as well." Said Sky as she got up to head upstairs, Sirius and James got up and followed shortly after leaving Remus and Peter downstairs to finish their homework. It was just about a few minutes later that the entire house was asleep and getting ready for another morning.

* * *

Remus was correct, exams came quickly but they were all prepared. Remus helped Peter catch up with work and prepare for the exams as well. Everyone did fine on their tests, Remus and Lily passed with flying colors, highest scores in the year. Sirius, Sky and James followed shortly behind and Peter managed his best.

The year had gone by quickly, quicker than anyone had expected. Everyone was sad to being going home but of course they were excited for a nice long holiday away from school work. As they packed their bags the boys were discussing their summer plans.

"You doing anything interesting this summer Peter?" asked Remus as he begun to pack his socks into his trunk.

"Nothing special, just spending the holidays at home I suppose."

"Well, you should all defiantly come to my place sometime over the break. My parents would more than welcome you all", suggested James.

"Yeah mate, that sounds awesome!" exclaimed Sirius as he threw his books onto his bag.

* * *

Meanwhile in the girl's dorm, Bridget and Audrey were making plans to get together practically everyday of break. _Clicky those two,_ Sky thought to herself as she removed her dresses from the wardrobe. Suddenly an owl appeared on the window sill beside Sky's bed; she removed the letter and read it aloud.

_Hey Sky, we're heading down to get rid of our bags early. Meet us down in the Great Hall for some breakfast before the train comes tomorrow. Sirius, James, Peter, and you and I will sit together on the train ok? Oh, and James has invited us all to hang out over the break, that should be fun! Sleep well and I'll see you in the morning._

_Remus_

Sky left the letter on her night table and returned to her packing.

"So you're going to spend time with the boys over break?" asked Alice.

"Actually yes, I mean I see Remus all the time but James, Sirius, and Peter, yes it seems so. Should be fun, James has told me all about his house, it sounds like a lot of fun."

"Going anywhere else this summer? I remember you mentioning your family travels a lot."

"My father mentioned something about Greece but I'm not sure if it was definite. Knowing him he'll burst into my room at all hours of the night and randomly tell me that we're leaving in a few hours. He's ridiculously spontaneous like that, must be where I get it from. Mum hates it, that's for sure."

"Well, that would be fun! I wish my parents would burst into my room and tell me we're traveling to Greece, or Spain, or Egypt" giggled Alice.

"Ha-ha, well I haven't been to Egypt but if we ever head that way I'll make sure to pick you up a souvenir alright?"

"OH! Sky do you think if we gave you money you could pick us up something nice from Greece if you go!" yelled Bridget as she jumped off the bed in excitement.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, if I go anywhere I'll make sure to bring you all back something!" answered Sky

The girls all squealed in excitement and continued with their packing. It wasn't long until they were all in bed and fast asleep. The night went quickly and before they all knew it, the Great Hall was filled with anxious students ready to head home for the summer. Everyone had brought their bags down before breakfast and they would be taken down to the train. Breakfast was fantastic and everyone chatted on about their summer plans; soon the school was boarding the train at the train station in Hogsmead and heading back to platform 9 ¾.

The five first years boarded the train together and made their way to the back of the train where Sirius, James, Remus, and Sky had met. The ride consisted of the usual; pranking, playing chess, filling up on sweets, and talking the day away. When they arrived at the platform everyone hopped off the train and searched the crowds for their families.

Sky and Remus stationed themselves in the middle of the platform with their bags and trunks while awaiting their parent's arrivals. Sky sat impatiently on her trunk playing with the hem on her white and blue sundress. She let her mind wander as she sat cross-legged, she remembered Remus buying her the dress for her birthday last year, and she loved it and the way it flowed straight down her body buttons lined down the center. Remus stood next to her in his worn t-shirt and jeans, looking tall as he searched over the heads of his peers looking for his mother. Sirius stood next to Remus looking handsome without even trying yet also looking completely uninterested in finding his family. Peter had found his parents when they got off the train and waved his goodbyes to the four. James found his parents in an instant. Naturally he dragged them over to his group of friends to introduce them.

"Mum, Dad, these are my friends. They're in Gryffindor with me. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Sky White, oh and you just missed my friend Peter."

His parents were extremely friendly. Mr. Potter shook the hands of Sirius and Remus and nodded politely in Sky's direction. Mrs. Potter smiled beautifully at the bunch, "Well I hope you can all make it one day over the summer, we'd love to have some company!"

"Oh yea we'd love to-"started Sirius before he was rudely interrupted by an annoying tug on the back of his shirt. Everyone turned to look at the younger boy yanking on Sirius's shirt.

"Oye, Sirius come on! Dad's been looking for you." yelled the younger boy. He looked strangely just like Sirius but a bit shorter.

"Get off Regulus!" Sirius said with an annoyed tone as he shoved away his younger brother. "Sorry mate got to cut this off short. I hope I'll see you all over the summer, I'll write." Then turning away from his brother he looked straight at James and rolled his eyes as he pointed over to his family. James laughed. James knew how much Sirius hated his family and how he couldn't stand the idea of having to go back to them that summer but it was inevitable so Sirius grabbed his bags, waved goodbye to the rest, and dragged his way over to the grim relatives.

James said his goodbyes as well and headed off with his family. Sky and Remus made their way home shortly after when their parents arrived. It had been a good year but they all couldn't wait to get back to start a new adventure.

* * *

_A bit of an uneventful chapter, but like I said the story fillers are further into their years at Hogwarts. Hope everyone's enjoying! Please Please Please Review!!!_


	5. It's About Time

Chapter Five: It's About Time

The summer started off with the perfect summer weather. The sun glared down into the valley between Remus and Sky's houses. The valley itself was filled with wild flowers of every kind and the creek was as crystal clear as could be. It was about a month into the summer and Sky and Remus were found lying in an open patch of grass watching the clouds roll by, something they found themselves doing a little too often. Sky was twisting daisy stems around each other attempting to make a head dress like her mother had shown her.

"I could never quite figure out how she does this", she said frustrated as she threw the crumpled flowers at Remus.

"Just get your mother to show you again"

"Yea but you know I'm just going to forget…again!"

"Very true, hey have you heard from James?"

"Nah, Not since the other day when he wrote me a year long letter about how he'd almost broken his leg practicing Quidditch, it was quite a frantic letter I must say. I wonder when they'll have tryouts." Sky rolled over onto her stomach and kicked her feet up.

"He's pretty good on a broom, I'm sure he'll make it. You think your mom's made lunch yet because I'm starved." Remus jumped up and brushed the grass off his back and helped Sky up as well. Together they made their way over to Sky's cottage to see what her mom had cooked up for lunch.

They opened the white picket gate enclosing Naomi's garden, shoeing away and rabbit or two, and entered the kitchen through the blue wooden door. Naomi was in the kitchen leaning over the stove, she was cooking up some soup for the kids and motioned for them to get bowls and have a seat at the table. Sky and Remus obeyed and had a seat.

"What have you two been up to all morning?" asked Naomi as she carried the large pot to them and poured each of the kids a bowl. Naomi was a thin, slender woman. Sky had obvious acquired most of her looks from her father's side of the family; she had jet black hair like her father, tanned skin like her father, even her facial features came from her father's side. Yet, Sky and her mother had the same shocking blue eyes that tied them together.

"Just another peaceful summer morning with absolutely nothing to do", answered Sky as she twirled her spoon through the noodles.

Just then a large brown owl landed silently on the window sill. It pecked and hooted loudly until Naomi finally noticed its presence. She took the mail from the feathered creature and sat at the kitchen table next to Remus.

"I swear we get so much junk mail these days. OH! My witch weekly is here!" She shouted joyfully as she jumped up and made her way into the living room to read. Sky leaned across the table and pushed her finger through the pile of mail searching for anything interesting to lighten up her and Remus's summer and that's when she came across it.

"Oye! It's about time Potter!" Sky's fingers had come across a brown letter with a red seal upon it addressed to her. She recognized the writing on the front immediately as James's chicken scratch and pulled the letter toward herself preparing to read it aloud to Remus.

_Hey Sky and I'm assuming Remus is right there with you. I've gotten myself into the habit of just writing one letter to one of the two of you because I mean, you are always together and I felt I was saving the owl a trip. Anyway, how's your summer going? I'm sure it's more interesting than mine being as you have each other to keep entertained. I myself am going absolutely insane from boredom and it was just this morning when I had fallen asleep in my cereal that my mother reminded me I should invite everyone over for a visit. So here it is! Tomorrow I expect to see you both fall gracefully out of my fireplace. Sirius and Peter already confirmed their visit and they'll be coming the second they wake up so I expect the same from you! See you both tomorrow!_

_James_

"Oh that sounds splendid! I'll go write him back confirming." yelled Sky as she jumped up abandoning her lunch and ran over to the counter to scribble a quick response.

"Sky what about the moon?" asked Remus as he stared down at his bowl.

"What about it Remus, it's not for two days yet. We'll go to James tomorrow and be back in plenty of time for the moon."

"Well I mean, do you think it's a good idea. I am feeling tiered."

"Remus, stop making excuses. I know you and I know you are perfectly capable of going to the Potter's tomorrow. Plus it's not like we'll be doing anything too strenuous and if so just say you don't feel well. I mean, if you really don't want to go I can tell them you're sick? Come on! I know you want to go!" Sky had walked over to Remus poking his shoulder until he finally looked up laughing, obviously defeated.

"Ha-ha ok! I'll go…but I have to clear it with my mum first you know that. I'm sure she'll let me."

"Aright, well then get you butt over there and ask so I can write this bloody letter already. This owl seems to be getting anxious." She told Remus as the barn owl hooted impatiently and pecked her right in the hand.

* * *

That night Sky found herself anxiously sitting in her bedroom unable to get any sleep. Remus had gotten permission from his mother to go to James's so he and Sky had planned to get up as early as possible for the outing. When Sky found she really couldn't get any shut eye she decided to head downstairs to the kitchen for a midnight snack. As she tip toed down the stairs she realized she wasn't the only one awake.

"Dad?"

Sky's father sat on his usual chair in the dark living room. He was reading the daily prophet from that morning in the small amount of candle light that fell across his face.

"What are you doing up Sky?"

"Oh…just couldn't sleep. Remus and I are going to a friends tomorrow…suppose I'm just excited that's all"

"Who's house?"

"James…James Potter. His parent work at the ministry maybe you know them?"

"Yea I know 'em. Aurors. I suppose that's fine, but why don't you try spending time with some of my friends kids. Plenty of them go to Hogwarts. What about the Malfoys? Or the Blacks?"

"Well, dad the Malfoy's son isn't in my house. I haven't really met him and I will be seeing Sirius. He's coming to James's place too; we're all in the same house after all."

"Well, I still think you should try to branch out a bit more…after all, there are other houses in Hogwarts like my own."

"Yea father…I know."

The conversation ended there, not because Sky's father was done talking but because Sky chose that moment to walk away and end it. Her father wasn't thrilled when he heard she wasn't a Slytherin but being as he married a Gryffindor he never said anything much about it. Yet, he still pushed and pressured Sky into making friends within the Slytherin house. This night was like many others that summer and Sky had learned to just brush it aside.

She wandered into the dark kitchen and grabbed a muffin from the basket on the counter and headed back upstairs. "There's nothing wrong with my friends, they're good people." Sky said to no one in particular and with that she drifted to sleep.

* * *

James squirmed impatiently on the red sofa in his living room. He'd barely slept a wink that night and couldn't have been more excited. He'd spent the entire summer messing around on his broom in the backyard and jinxing the neighbor's cat and he'd come to terms with the fact that the summer couldn't have been more boring. He couldn't wait until the gang got there, he didn't even know what they'd do but he did know it was going to be great seeing everyone again.

Just then tall green flames filled James's fireplace and a tall figure appeared right in front of him.

"How's it going?" said Sirius casually as he shook his head of shaggy black hair letting all the ash fall into the air.

"It's about time; I've been going absolutely insane in the house by myself. How's your summer been?"

Sirius strolled over to the couch and fell gently down into the seat next to James. He looked at James with a disgusted face, "Absolutely dreadful. I swear if I have to listen to another word about how I've disgraced the family I'm going to flip. Ever since I got back from school my father's been spending every waking moment trying to convince me to switch houses. He even tried to set up an appointment with Dumbledore! Then to top it off, Regulus, my stupid half ass of a brother starts school next year and we all know where he'll end up. I bet I'm the only Black in ages not to have gotten stuck in Slytherin!"

"Well it's a good thing! All the Slytherin are creepy and slimy…ha-ha like that one greasy haired kid who was in our transfiguration class…what was his name?"

"Hmmm…I don't know, all I know is he was a stupid git" Sirius and James looked straight up at each other and bust out laughing. The two had spent practically every second of that class making fun of the weird Slytherin that sat in front of them, yet neither of them ever knew his name. Just then as the two boys were trying to catch their breath the fire place lit up green once again.

"Hey guys!" Peter came strolling out of the fireplace brushing the ash off his shoulders and smiling up at Sirius and James. "Long time no see!"

"Peter! Hey come sit, lets play a game of chess and you can tell us about your summer…both of ours have basically sucked." Said James as he sat down on the floor and opened up his chess set on the coffee table.

"Well, not much to say about mine either. Sucked as well, I'm completely ready to go back to Hogwarts." Peter joined James at the coffee table as they waited around for Remus and Sky. After a couple rounds of James completely destroying Peter the fireplace finally lit up green again for one last time that morning. Once the flames had cleared Sky and Remus stepped through the fireplace.

"Well hellllooo boys!" yelled Sky as she skipped over and jumped down to the floor and hugged Peter. As she made her way around to James and Sirius, Remus stepped out of the fireplace himself and brushed off his pants while having a seat next to Sirius on the sofa.

"Hey Sky good to see you", said Sirius as Sky finally let go of the grip she had around his neck. He couldn't help but notice how lovely she looked but he was suddenly distracted by the way Remus looked. He seemed paler than usual and tiered. "Remus you alright?"

"Oh, umm…yea I've just caught a bit of a cold. Haven't been able to get much sleep."

Sky looked at Remus and recognized the look right away. He was worried so she stepped in, "Yea, it's a killer cold. I had it last week and I must've given it to Remus. I just always have to be up and about it huh? Can't admit defeat and just stay in bed. My bad Remus!"

Remus looked up at Sky and smiled. What were friends for?

* * *

The five teens spent the entire day together; it was really what they'll all needed to brighten up their summer. Remus kept up for the most part though the potential moon did slow him down. Sky and James spent a good amount of time out in James's yard practicing his technique while Peter, Remus, and Sirius joked around on the ground. James's house was in fact quite large…a bit of a mansion. James never really seemed the type to come from a family with so much money but it was more than obvious when you entered his home that the Potters were well off.

The backyard was as green as could be and reminded Remus strangely of his valley back home making him feel quite comfortable. "You reckon they'll be anyone new this year? Like, I mean in our year." asked Sirius as he watched Sky and James mess around above them.

"I don't know, but we do know for sure that they'll be an entire class below us of first years" responded Peter.

"Hope they're hot." Sirius said bluntly as he hoped to his feet. "James I'm starving can we please go eat something before I have to eat Peter's arm!"

James touched back down to the ground and ran his hand through his windblown hair, "Yea relax Sirius my mums made lunch."

Sky returned to the ground shortly after and grabbed Remus's hand to help him up. Sirius rushed up to the house with Peter and James trailing behind him while Sky held Remus back for a moment. He was looking paler than usual and she wanted to make sure everything was ok; she wasn't use to him looking like this. "Remus are you sure everything's ok? I mean, you look really sick are you sure you don't want to go home?"

The truth was that Remus was feeling sicker than usual but not because of the moon. He was guilty. For the first time in his life he had real friends, well he'd always known Sky was his real friend but they were practically brother and sister. He felt guilty for not sharing the truth the guys and he couldn't help but think about what would happen if they knew…if he told them. The thought that they'd disown him made him sick. "I'm fine Sky really, let's just go eat"

"Well, I know you're lying but ok."

The rest of the day went on with endless laughter. The five spent the night in front of the Potter's fireplace roasting marshmallows and attempting to stick them on crackers with chocolate frogs. Sirius almost choked on his when Sky's frog jumped right off the cracker and smacked into Peter's face. The gang talked for endless hours that night about endless topics and all were dreading returning to their uneventful summers at home. Peter was the first to say goodnight and head home shortly followed by Sky and Remus. Sirius decided to spend the night at the Potter's and have one real fun night away from his parents. James could see it in Sirius's eyes that he was dreading going home, so when Sirius made his way toward the fireplace James insisted he stayed.

"So do you think Lily Evans likes me?" James asked as he and Sirius played a game of chess.

"James, you've got to be kidding me. I mean honestly…there has to be about a thousand gorgeous girls in our year alone…why don't you focus your time on one that will actually look you in the face without gagging."

"A thousand Sirius? REALLY?"

"YEA, hah ok maybe not a thousand but there are plenty. Seriously, Evans just isn't into you mate."

"She loves me…I know it! And mark my words; we'll be dating by seventh year!" By this point James was standing on the couch arms above his head raised in a triumphant manner. Sirius laughed and threw a large pillow at his face, knocking James back to the floor.

"The day Lily Evans 'loves' you…is the day I'll admit that I'm just like my father!"

James recovered from his fall off the couch saying, "Yea, well what about you Sirius? Who's got your eye?"

Sirius could only think of one girl when James asked him this question, but never in his right mind would he just admit to his crush. "James, the girls don't catch MY eye, I catch theirs!"

"You are ridiculous" replied James as the two boys burst out in laughter. The rest of the night was spent talking about girls and all the other random interests found in the strange mind of a boy. They eventually passed out on the couch around sunrise only to wake up the next day and return to their boring summers alone.

* * *

:: Night of the Full Moon ::

The full moon came before Remus expected. After their adventure to the Potter's home, Remus and Sky came home only to spend the next day and a half waiting for the dreaded night. Sky always wished there was a way to comfort Remus but ever since she could remember Remus would sit by the creek and stare at his reflection just waiting for it to come and go and just be another bad memory. And that's all it was…another bad memory for Remus to push into the back of his mind. It was dark and silent outside. The sky was black but the valley was lit by the glow of the moon. Mrs. Lupin sat at the kitchen table twiddling her fingers while Sky made them some tea. Sky walked over to the table and pulled on of the wooden chairs up next to Remus's distraught mother. Suddenly, a shrieking howl came from the room down below. It was loud and long and was full of pain and anger. Mrs. Lupin buried her head into her hands as she burst into tears. All Sky could do was put her arm around her in a hug and say, "It will be fine, it always is."

* * *

_Wow I haven't written in so long and I'm sorry…it's been crazy with spring break and finals and moving back home for the summer! It's a bit of a short chapter but like I said, I've been busy. Hope you enjoy it because I'm defiantly still enjoying many of your fanfics! Please review!_


	6. It Was Still Brilliant

Chapter Six: It's Seriously Been Way Too Long

The rest of summer vacation was taken over by extreme heat. Most kids found themselves stuck indoors with their air conditioning rather than even think about venturing out under the scorching sun. While most students dreaded the end of the summer and their return to Hogwarts others couldn't wait to get out of their homes and into the castle. Sirius could barely wait another second. The entire summer consisted of his parent's evil stares and urging him to switch houses while other members of the Black family talked about Sirius as if he was a delinquent child and nobody wanted their name attached to him. The one night he got to spend away with the Potters was the best of his entire break; in fact it was the only good day at all. Not only was Sirius dying to get away but his friends were as well.

James was as lonely as could be in his big house. His parents worked late hours and with the weather they were experiencing, he could only spend so much time out on his broom. James hated being an only child and always wondered why his parents hadn't had any other children, which is why he couldn't wait until he was back in the Gryffindor tower along with the rest of his fellow classmates.

Peter was no better off at home. The other kids around the neighborhood weren't very friendly toward Peter and he never made many friends at home. He missed the security he found at Hogwarts when he was around James, Sirius, and Remus… nobody messed with Peter when he was around them. Yet, home was different. There were no other boys to stand around Peter and scare the other kids away so he was an open target. Peter was teased and made fun of constantly in his neighborhood…eventually he took sanctuary in his bedroom until the day came to board the Hogwarts Express.

Remus and Sky were on a different boat than the rest. Though they missed the excitement they found last year at Hogwarts, they loved the comfort of their homes. Remus loved to know that he had a room all set for him to transform in on full moon nights and that in the morning he'd be taken care of by his mother and Sky. Though the summer days were extremely hot, the two friends just took a dip into the river and didn't have to worry about dying of the heat. It was peaceful and relaxing but naturally not nearly as stimulating as school.

Eventually the summer days rolled into summer nights and before everyone knew it, it was time to return to Hogwarts. Platform 9 ¾ was bustling as usual on the first day back and the train was roaring and ready to go. Sky stood on the center of the platform alone, her parents had already left being as her father had some urgent ministry business to attend to. She could feel the sun beat down on her shoulders as she watched Remus carry their trunks over to the train…he always insisted on doing it by himself. She could feel the sweat dripping down her back and couldn't help but wish her and Remus were just back at the cottage floating in the crystal clear water. Not being able to stand the heat much longer she pulled her brown t-shit over her head so she was just wearing a tank top underneath, _I could really care less if anyone thinks its inappropriate because I'm dying here! _She thought.

Remus quickly joined in and pulled his jacket off and threw it in one of his trunks before he loaded it onto the train. As he jogged back over to Sky he saw a very familiar red head walking their way, "Lily! Hey!" he yelled as he made his way back next to Sky.

Lily had spent the morning trying to avoid her sister Petunia. The harsh blonde sister of hers scowled every time Lily entered the room and Lily honestly couldn't have gotten out of that house quicker. She always missed her parents but Petunia made Lily miss Hogwarts more and more everyday of the summer. Lily had hopped out of the cab once she made it to the station and rushed her way to the platform not being able to wait one more minute to see her friends. To top off a summer being stuck with her sister, Lily walked onto the platform only to find herself face to face with Sky…the spoiled little princess who was completely in love with herself.

Sky heard Remus call over to Lily and turned around to see the fiery red head walking toward them. Sky pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail that fell lightly down her back and smiled politely at Lily. After an awkward silence between the two girls Remus decided to interrupt, "Lily how was your summer?"

"Oh, it was fine I suppose…got a lot of reading done. It was nice to be back at home with my parents. How about yours?"

"Ours was real nice, spent most of our time just lying around." Answered Remus

"Yes, the valley is really lovely this time of year…you should see the flowers!" added Sky. Suddenly Sky's eyes lit up and a huge smile fell across her face as she looked just over Lily's shoulder behind her.

* * *

James found himself practically running through the train station, parents trailing behind him telling him to slow down. He'd been waiting days for this moment and knew it was only minutes before he saw his best friends again. That's when he saw him…the well groomed, black haired boy who was the one person James felt understood him most. With a silly smirk falling across James's face, he ran straight for the boy whose back was turned to him and tackled him right to the ground. Laughing his life away, James rolled over onto his back practically crying only to notice that the boy was surprisingly NOT who he thought he was.

"Are you COMPLETELY dense?! I mean honestly, do you always tackle random people because it's not very common." James just stared up at the boy completely shocked...he surely _looked_ like Sirius but a bit different. "What are you staring at, are you mental or something?"

"No- um I just thought…"

Just then the boy was grabbed by the shoulder and pulled behind Sirius himself. "Ha-ha, well mate I guess your eye sight is worse than I had always assumed. This is my idiot brother Regulus," Sirius said motioning over to the younger boy "and Regulus this is my idiot best friend James." He gave James a hand getting up off the floor and laughed at the bewildered look that still sat on James face.

"He's my _brother_ James…it's really not that weird."

"No man…he looks so much like you it's a bit creepy. You sure you two aren't twins or something."

"No I think being twins requires us being born in the same year, month, and day. He's my younger brother, first year." Then Sirius leaned in closer to James and lowered his voice, "A total shoe-in for Slytherin, the kid is a complete scum bag."

"Doesn't seem like such the devil child you made him out to be if you ask me."

Sirius laughed grimly to himself and replied, "Watch it James, the second you turn your back on that weasel he'll be jinxing you to France."

"Well in that case I suggest we make our way out of here and go find the rest of the gang so we can get our compartment on the train. Just let me say goodbye to my parents and let them know I'm good to go from here" With that James rushed off over to his parents and hugged them goodbye. His mother couldn't seem to let go of her tight grip she had on him but eventually the shaggy haired boy broke free and returned to Sirius. The two second years made their way, bags in hand, to the platform abandoning Sirius's family in search of their fellow Gryffindors.

* * *

Lily looked at Sky's face wondering what on earth the girl was smiling about and when she turned to Remus she saw he too was looking off behind her. Sky pushed her way in between Lily and Remus and yelled, "Well I'll be damned, if it isn't my two favorite unruly lads!"

Sirius and James looked up and saw Sky standing between Remus and Lily and made their way over to the crowd. Sirius hadn't seen any of his friends since the one night they all went to James's place but for some reason when he saw Sky it made his stomach drop. He couldn't help but notice how good she looked, but maybe that had something to do with the fact that it was over 100 degrees outside and she was barely wearing anything. Boys.

Sky jumped over and gave James and huge hug then made her way to Sirius. It was good to have everyone back together, now all they had to do was wait up for Peter. James looked over at Lily and saw that she had a scowling look on her face; _she always looks so cute when she's disgusted with people,_ he couldn't help but think to himself. He ran a hand through his hair and decided to strike up some conversation, "So Evans, you have a good holiday?"

"Oh, hello James. Yes, I suppose it was alright," Lily was now looking around for any escape from this. She could handle Sky but James and Sirius were too much for her and she couldn't stand to be in their obnoxious presence for more than five minutes. Just then she saw Alice standing with her bags and took this as her opportunity to get away. "Oh excuse me, I have to go say hi to someone" and with that she was gone.

"Well someone was in a rush to get away from you." said Sirius as he patted James on the back.

"Oh shut up mate, like I told you…she's in love with me."

Sky pulled her hair out of her pony tail and hooked arms with James, "Well Casanova, I think we'd better board the train or the four of us will be stuck on the platform all year! Anyone seen Peter?"

"Oh wait I think that's him over there talking to his father." pointed out Remus.

Sirius turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Peter! Get your scrawny tail over here before we have to leave you on the platform!"

Peter looked over laughing and quickly said his farewells to his parents. He hurried his way over to his four friends with a smile across his pale face, "Sorry it took me so long guys. My parents were moving as slow as slugs this morning…not to mention I overslept. Well what are we waiting for, let's board!"

The four students made their way onto the train and toward the very back compartment. Sirius and James already found a new found power in being second years as opposed to first years. Walking through the long hallway to their compartment they shoved the slightly shorter first years out of their way and nodded politely at their fellow Gryffindors. As they came to the glass door at the end of the hall they heard someone calling for them, "Sirius! Bloody hell are you deaf! Hold up already!"

The five friends turned around and saw Sirius's younger brother walking down the hallway toward them. Regulus pushed his way through their little crowd, taking a moment to glance at Sky, and stopped when he got to Sirius. "Well I've been looking for you since you left us on the platform. Apparently you must not have seen me standing in the hall when you decided to shove me into a wall to get past."

"No I saw you; you were just in my way." Sirius replied and him, James, and Peter started to laugh, "Listen Regulus, I'd LOVE to stay and chat and all but I'm about to make myself comfortable in my compartment so bug off."

With that Regulus gave Sirius a vicious glare and turned around to walk away. Halfway down the hallway Sirius noticed Regulus run into the Malfoy's eldest son Lucius and join a few Slytherin in a compartment. "And so it begins"

"And so what begins?" asked James as they took their seats.

"I told you already James, Regulus is a shoe-in for Slytherin. Now he's hanging around with Lucius Malfoy."

Peter closed the compartment door and asked, "Who's Lucius Malfoy?"

"The Malfoys are just another pure blood family. Pretty wealthy from what my father lets slip. He's tried to get me to hang out with him but I'm very much not interested. Lucius is a few years older than us." answered Sky.

"Your family knows the Malfoys too?" Sirius asked Sky with a peculiar look on his face.

"Naturally… my father works in the ministry along with yours and James's. Not to mention he too was a Slytherin so he and Lucius's father were good friends."

"That's true, I never thought about that. We'll either way, my brother is a total brat and don't for a second trust him."

"Sirius you make him sound like the devil…I'm sure he's fine" said Remus as he opened a book and began to read.

* * *

After catching up and having some good laughs in their train compartment the gang decided to change into their school uniforms and stretch their legs a bit. Sky left the compartment and headed to a bathroom to change so the boys could change in the compartment. When she returned she had an annoyed look on her face. Remus looked up at her and asked, "What's that look for?"

"Ugh, I'd gotten so use to being able to wear what I wanted all summer and now I'm being thrown back into a world of uniforms. I can't wait for the weekend when I can take this horrendous outfit off."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better Sky. You pull it off a lot better than most of the girls here." said James as he pulled his black cloak over his white button up shit and tie.

"Were the skirts always that short?" asked Remus

"Ha-ha you so jinxed your skirt!! I knew I saw more leg than I use to!" shouted Sirius as he folded his sleeves up above his elbows.

Sky twirled around in a circle laughing, "Yea well honestly, this isn't the 18th century anymore and I think the skirt needed a bit of a fashion update! Hopefully McGonagall doesn't notice!"

"Are we almost there?" asked Peter as he stared out the window where the sun was now setting, "looks like we should be getting close soon."

"Yea Peter I think your right…I wonder how we get up to the castle this year since we don't go over on the boats." said Sky as she took the seat across from Peter.

Remus took a look over at James who was leaning on the glass door to the compartment and said, "Well, thank the lord we don't have to go over on those boats again. Being sorted looking like the creature from the black lagoon wasn't really my idea of my first night at Hogwarts."

They all started laughing and James turned a bit red. Where Sky and Sirius found their topple funny beyond belief, Remus never let James live it down. "Yea yea I'm a complete prat I know! Well, if you'll all take a minute to stop making fun of me you'll notice that we're here…look there's the castle."

Everyone turned back to the window and saw the beautiful castle they all loved and missed over the hot summer. The sun was setting just behind the astronomy tower and the red beams shot straight up behind the castle illuminating the sky. The lake just below the castle looked peaceful and they could see the tiny wooden boats waiting for the first years. As the train came to a stop the students all started to poke their heads out of their compartments. Everyone made their way into the hallway with their bags and started to unload onto the station at Hogsmead.

The first years got shoved around as the older students made their way past the boats. Remembering what happened last year, Sky automatically linked elbows with Remus and Peter not wanting to get separated. James and Sirius led the way in front of the three and had no problem making themselves a clear path; if people didn't move when they shoved then Sirius just conveniently jinxed his way past. Eventually he had scared away enough first years that they found their method of transportation.

Just feet away from the five friends were a line of elegant black horse drawn carriages; except there was one problem…there were no horses. Sirius, James, Peter, and Sky looked ahead completely confused then Peter asked in a completely idiotic voice, "What? Are we supposed to pull them ourselves or something?"

"No you prat! There's got to be some sort of trick to it." replied James as he made his way toward the front of one of the carriages.

"No, James that's not it…its Thestrals. I remember reading it in _Hogwarts, A History._" explained Remus as he opened the doors to the nearest unoccupied carriage. "They'll move themselves once we're all inside, now common we don't want to miss the sorting."

Together they all loaded into the carriage after Remus and just as he had predicted, the carriage made its way up the long rocky path to Hogwarts. When they got up to the castle all the older students unloaded into the Great Hall and took their seats at their appropriate tables. In honor of the new coming year, the Great Hall was decorated beautifully to welcome in all the students from a long summer. The Gryffindor table had a long garnet table cloth with golden trim draped across it, above hung ribbons of gold and long banners with the Gryffindor Lion printed on it. The hall quickly filled up, as did the tables. The teachers took their seats along the table at the head of the room and chatted among themselves while they waited for Professor. McGonagall to start the sorting ceremony.

The boys made their way toward the center of the table; Sirius insisted they sit there because he was convinced the best deserts are always in the center. Sky stopped to catch up with a few of their housemates, she was yet to have a boyfriend at Hogwarts but there was nothing wrong with innocent crushes and fifth year Anthony Witlin was definitely her type; not to mention his friends weren't too bad either.

"Anthony! Long time no see, how's the Quidditch coming along?"

"Hey Sky! Not too bad, naturally I've been playing all summer so hopefully this year the team will get some good new additions. We're looking for a new chaser if you know anyone that's interested and any good."

Sky took a seat next to the blonde fifth year and said, "Well actually James Potter is looking to try out. From what I see he's not too bad…in fact he's pretty good. You've seen him on a broom stick, it's impressive."

"Well, I'll have to keep that in mind come try outs now won't I." The two Gryffindors smiled at each other and continued to chat on with some of the other fifth years sitting around them. Suddenly Sky heard the highest pitched squeal that could only come from two girls she knew. She quickly turned around to come face to face with Audrey and Bridget. Sky excused herself from the table and jumped up to hug her roommates. Audrey and Bridget were definitely clicky and over excited about way too many things, but Sky still enjoyed their company and found them almost as fun to hang out with as the boys.

"Sky! It's seriously been way too long! Are you not totally excited for this year? I swear I didn't notice half these cute boys last year." said Bridget as she twirled her blonde curls around her fingers.

Sky laughed and replied, "That's because last year half of them didn't look like this…puberty will do that to you! You girls want to come have a seat…the boys are waiting on me and the sorting should start soon."

Bridget and Audrey looked at each other, smiled, and nodded simultaneously. They defiantly didn't mind sitting with Gryffindor's cutest boys, so together the three second years made their way over to the center of the table.

* * *

"What do you think they talk about?" asked Sirius as he watched Sky get up to say hi to Audrey and Bridget. _What's that guys name again? Arnold?-Andrew?-no it was Anthony. _

"Who? Sky and Anthony…I don't know? What do you care?" said James as he played with his wand.

"Uh- no reason…just curious that's all"

"Sounds like someone's a little jealous that he's not the only Gryffindor who gets female attention!" said James as he punched Sirius in the arm. Remus and Peter laughed as the girls joined them at their portion of the table.

"Hey boys! Hope your summers were as fun as ours." said Bridget as she took a seat next to James.

"I wouldn't exactly have called mine fun," stated Sirius as his stomach started to growl "Lord I'm starving. McGonagall needs to get out here and get those first years sorted… my mom's cooking isn't nearly as good as the food here."

Just then a line of first years lead by Professor McGonagall made their way to the front of the hall. It felt like hours but soon enough all the newbie's were sorted and seated at the appropriate tables. Sirius watched across the hall as Regulus was greeted by his fellow Slytherin. _I knew he'd end up there…_ "Was I a complete prat to think for a minute that maybe I wouldn't be the only Black to be sorted into Gryffindor?"

Everyone turned to look at him… it was obvious that Sirius had been talking to himself and didn't realize he had begun to talk out loud. "Umm…Well mate I guess you were just hopeful you weren't the only different one in your family" answered James hesitantly, he wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical or not.

Sirius turned to the group blushing slightly… he hadn't realized anyone was listening. "Oh, no man… I don't care…they're all asses anyway." Before anyone could say another word considering Sirius's sudden need for his family's attention, he was stuffing his face with the food that had appeared before them all.

"Well James, I was just talking to Anthony about Quidditch…he says the teams looking for a new seeker. I told him you were up for the challenge." Sky told James across the table as she poured herself some pumpkin juice.

"You don't say! Maybe I should go have a word with him." And with that James was making his way down the long table to Anthony's crowd and starting up a hearty conversation.

The second years spent the rest of the evening catching up and were some of the last to leave the Great Hall that evening. When they made their way up to the common room nobody was ready to get to bed straight away. The four boys found Frank on their way up to the tower and made themselves comfortable in the corner of the room. Sky made her way up to the girl's dormitory with Bridgett and Audrey so they could make themselves comfortable and then join the boys downstairs for some midnight chatting. Lily and Alice were found in the bedroom sitting Indian style on Lily's bed already in their pajamas.

"Hey you girls want to join us downstairs? The boys managed to sneak some desert up out of the Great Hall." asked Audrey as she pulled on a t-shirt and shorts.

Lily looked up from her bed and saw the girls changing. Bridget was at her mirror brushing the curls in her hair as Sky put lotion on her legs. Before Alice could even get a word in, Lily cupped a hand over he mouth and answered for the both of them, "No, I think we'll be fine here. Thanks."

Sky walked by as she pulled a zip-up jacket over her tank top, she hated the way Lily always made everything they did out to be juvenile. She locked her violently blue eyes with lily's dark green ones as they both scowled at each other, "Your loss" she replied as she left the room.

Bridget, Audrey, and Alice all exchanged awkward glances as they all thought the same thought. _We're in for one catty school year_

* * *

  
The return-to-Hogwarts excitement wore off a little when classes begun the next day, along with the extreme sugar rush from all the midnight snacking. A fun night back had lead to a rough morning start. Remus was up and about like always but it took James, Peter, and himself to pull Sirius out of bed. After a refreshing breakfast and receiving their new schedules, students throughout Hogwarts made their way to their first classes of the year.

The second year Gryffindors were scheduled to have Potions with the Slytherin as their first class of the day. James and Sirius made their way to the second table on the left side of the classroom and got their books and cauldrons ready for class. Peter looked around the classroom… he could see that most of the Gryffindors already found partners for the day, even Lily who was nice enough to usually take pity on him and pair up. He looked at Sky and Remus as they were the only two Gryffindors left in the class… figuring they would partner together he took a disappointing look around the room to see which nasty Slytherin he would get stuck with.

As he begun to walk away to the only open partner he could find Sky pulled back on his arm and said, "Don't worry about it Peter. You and Remus can pair up, I'll go work with him." As she headed over to the dark lonely looking boy in the corner of the room, Peter and Remus joined James and Sirius at their table.

"Hey, I don't think we've met. I'm Sky White.", Sky said as she took a seat next to the boy. He was scrawny and pale, his nose was crooked and his hair was a strangled dark mess. His eyes rolled up to look at Sky, but he kept his head pointed down at his book. Sky pulled her potions book out and turned to the boy expecting an introduction.

Eventually he tore his eyes away from the old book and looked up at Sky, "Severus Snape…are you any good at potions?"

"Uh, well I suppose so…I got good grades in the class last year, why?"

"Why? Because I don't want a completely incompetent potions partner that's why, so if you don't know what you're doing I suggest you go partner with another snotty nosed Gryffindor princess."

So this is how it was going to be having potions with Slytherin… Sky took it upon herself to partner with this lonely sorry looking boy and all she got back was a complete attitude. _Fine you want to play that game, well you chose the wrong Gryffindor to talk back to, s_he thought as a mischievous smirk ran across her face. Just then Professor Slughorn walked into the room and with the flick of his wand a list of direction and ingredients appeared across the blackboard.

"Follow the steps, _carefully_, then bottle and cork a sample when you're finished to be graded. I will be observing as I usually do, so be on top of your game."

The students got started straight away, half headed to the cabinets to pick out the correct ingredients while the other half copied down the directions and prepared the cauldrons for brewing. Sky got up and headed to the cabinet right behind James. When she made it to him she leaned over and whispered in his ear giggling slightly. James looked at her with a surprised reaction and then looked over at Severus. He nodded at her as he grabbed a few _extra_ special ingredients from the wooden shelf and headed back over to Sirius.

Sky brought back the appropriate ingredients and, along with the rest of the class, she and Severus got started on the Swelling Solution Slughorn has assigned. Toward the end of the class people where starting to bottle their potions and head off to the rest of their day. Sky took it upon herself to bottle up their potion to be handed in. Just as Severus was offering to take the bottle up to Professor Slughorn she bumped the table and knocked his book off onto the floor, "Oh no Severus, really its fine I'll take it…you'd better pick up your book before you forget."

As Severus leaned down under the table, Sky skipped her way up to the teacher's desk tapping Sirius on the shoulder as she passed his table. Sirius and James turned around and immediately started pouring pink and blue potions into Sky and Severus's cauldron while he was down on the floor collecting his things. Right when Severus sat up again, James and Sirius had turned back around to finish cleaning up their own materials as the black pot behind them began to bubble. Before Severus even had a chance to pull out his wand the liquid within the cauldron exploded in his face creating a loud bang and puff of purple smoke. Everyone turned to see what had happened only to come face to face with the now purple stained cheeks of Severus Snape! Sirius and James exploded in laughter and Sky made her way back to the table snickering. All Snape could do before he headed off to the hospital wing to fix the mishap was turn to Sky and say, "touché."

* * *

"Sky, that was a brilliant idea! His face was so purple!!" exclaimed James as helped himself to some mashed potatoes at dinner that very night.

"You guys didn't see his face when he realized what we'd done…ha-ha PRICELESS!" said Sky

Remus joined in on the conversation after pouring himself some pumpkin juice, "What made you have the need for 'payback' anyway?"

"He was giving me an attitude and if I was going to spend the entire year with him as my potions partner, well I had to put him in his place. Oh Stop Remus don't give me that look! He thought it was sort of funny…plus after Madam Pomfrey returned him to his normal color, he called a truce."

"Well, it was still brilliant!" said James.

"Brilliant? What was it you think is brilliant than James?" The whole group looked up from the conversation to see Lily standing right behind James. Sirius and Peter immediately began to snicker when they saw the horrified look on James's face. He turned around and saw the red head standing behind him, hands on hips, looking very annoyed. "I should have figured it was you lot that pulled that prank on that poor boy! He looked so embarrassed!"

Sky turned around to face Lily as well, "Lily it was a harmless joke. Severus is fine and he and I already laughed about it! No big deal, I really don't see why you're getting involved."

"Eww you actually talked to the slime ball about it?" interrupted Sirius but when Sky and Lily ignored him he just turned to Peter and made a gagging face.

"I'm getting involved because I find it inappropriate to pick on our fellow schoolmates and its nothing but immature." continued Lily.

"Oh come on, Lily…he's a Slytherin…its not like he's from our own house or anything!" argued James.

"You know what _Potter_, I think you all need to grow up and realize that you are no better than anyone else in this school. Remus, maybe you can help them deflate their heads a bit!" and with that Lily stormed off meeting Alice at the end of the hall.

Sky and James looked at each other awkwardly and when they looked across the table at Sirius and Peter the four broke into laughter. Remus shook his head and said, "Well deflating all of your heads would take me all night…what do you say we just start on desert instead?"

* * *

_Hey guys, I hope you're all enjoying my story because I'm defiantly having a lot of fun writing it. Please review and thanks so much to awpotdc, blackdaughter, and rekahneko for reviews! _


	7. Just Admit It

Chapter Seven: Just Admit It

The weather cooled down significantly as the weeks went by and the school year slowly rolled through September and into October. After Sky and the boys pulled their prank on Severus he'd hung his head low for a while. Sirius and James still couldn't get over how smooth the prank had gone and impersonated Severus choking on the purple smoke every time they saw him in the hallways. Lily of course would roll her eyes and storm off in protest of their immature antics.

Yet the purple faced explosion wasn't the end of the year's fun. In fact, Sky had only awoken a sleeping giant. Little over two week later Sky found herself seated next to her greasy potions partner slowly reading over the directions for that day's assignment. She looked up around the classroom for she was slowly growing bored. She noticed Remus looking frustrated, yet patient, as he showed Peter the proper way to stir their yellow tinted liquid. Sky had always envied his patience, it was a good thing for Peter as well being as ten minutes of Sky or James trying to help and they stormed off, for Sirius it was only five. She then turned her head to directly in front of her where she then saw James and Sirius, finished with their work, scribbling on a piece of parchment laughing about who knew what. Eyes still wandering around the dark damp classroom she saw Lily and Alice at the table adjacent to hers. Lily was of course looking proud of herself as the pair examined their flask filled with their potion. As Sky made a mocking face while Lily's back was turned Severus looked up from their cauldron and said, "Well are you going to tell me what the last step is or are you going to brainlessly grope the classroom with your eyes for the rest of the period?"

"Relaxxxx Severus! We just need to add the newt tail and stir it clockwise three times and we're done."

"Well…"

"Well what!? I'm not an accomplished Legilimens so I can't simply read your mind no matter how long I stare at your big forehead!" She yelled as she stared at Severus.

"I had asked you to get the newt at the beginning of class, that's what…what did you do with it?"

"Its fine, I just forgot." She lifted her hand and held it out with her palm face up to the ceiling. She'd been practicing her special technique of magic in her spare time with Remus and she'd gotten a lot better since their first year. She still wished she was as naturally talented with her wand like all the rest of the students but for simple tasks like this she had started to leave her wand out of it. Looking away from Severus and locking eyes with the ingredient cabinet she thought strongly of what she wanted and within seconds her hand lit up with a glow and the newt tail simply floated its way across the classroom and gently into her hand.

"There Severus, happy?" she said as she turned and handed him their final component to the potion.

However, Severus wasn't taking the newt tail. He was staring at her completely confused then finally broke his trance to say, "What in bloody hell was that?"

"Just a little trick I picked up, nothing extreme"

"Looked pretty extreme to me…non verbal spell was it? How do you do it without your wand?!"

"I don't know…"

"Well, whatever lets just finish this."

The students started to bottle their flasks and bring them up to the front of the classroom for grading. Sky filled a flask and made her way to the teacher's desk meeting Remus halfway up the row.

"You're getting better at that you know" he casually said.

"At what?"

"You're magic…still haven't figured out what you'd call it…"

"Yea, I suppose but I'm more focused on getting up to par with my wand…I swear Ollivander gave me a wand that completely disagrees with me."

"Oh come off it, you're not terrible. You're still better than Peter," at this Sky gave him a horrified look, "Ha-Ha I'm just playing with you, you're on the same level as most the students in our year so just relax."

They made their way to the back of the classroom to Sky and Severus's table to gather up Sky's belongings. As Sky was picking up her things Remus noticed Severus slinking away from the table unusually silent. "Umm, Sky I think he's up to something."

Sky ignored Remus and continued to pick up her books, "Oh I told you guys he's really not that bad, just a bit different I suppose, and a little impatient. Plus we totally called a truc-" Sky was interrupted by the ridiculously loud explosion that occurred when she closed her potions textbook. Once again the entire classroom turned in shock to see what had happened. Sky stood completely drenched in a gooey green slime, her white button up top was tinted a puke yellow and the trims of her skirt were dripping with ooze. Remus, who had unfortunately been in the danger zone had too suffered. He was half turned away from the table when the book had been closed so only the left side of his body was drenched but nevertheless, his usually blonde locks were stained green and stuck to his face as though a Muggle had run a handful of gel through it.

Sky turned slowly to the corner where Severus was stifling extreme laughter; as she opened her mouth to speak she was forced to spit out a glob of the ooze onto the table, "Oh…it is SO on!"

James and Sirius couldn't hold it in any longer. James jumped up on his chair, textbook still open in his hands, tears practically rolling down his face and yelled, "My lord! I got to give him props; I'm sorry Sky, Severus that was _awesome_!"

"Dude, what is this junk…you guys look like slugs" Shouted Sirius as he hopped up on his chair joining James.

The two idiots went on laughing and praising Severus prank, while an even larger smile fell across Severus's face. Then something occurred to Remus, James had not yet shut his textbook for the day.

"Umm James, if I may interrupt your excitement for my current appearance--"

James and Sirius ignored and continued their ranting, "Yea! Who could've seen that coming! It was like BAM!" and with that James slammed his textbook shut for a sound effect, and a sound effect is exactly what he got. Another huge explosion filled the dungeon as James's book exploded. James and Sirius stood covered in the same icky gunk that covered their friends, looking utterly shocked.

Sirius grabbed a glob of the gunk from his hair and smacked James in the back of the head with it and yelled, "You _PRAT_!" then turned to Severus who had lost all control and was laughing along with the rest of the classroom, "Oh Snape….its _SOOOOOO_ ON!"

Finally, Professor Slughorn intervened, "What is this nonsense? You four, out of my classroom…you're dripping on my clean floors. Class dismissed." He yelled as he rushed the quad out the door slipping and sliding on each other.

From inside the room the students looked around at each other not sure what to do. Suddenly they heard a crash from the hallway where the four had distinctively tumbled into a suit of armor and four different annoyed voices shouted at each other. Lily Evans picked up her books with a smile across her face and made her way out of the classroom only stopping as she passed Severus to say, "Thank you".

* * *

On Wednesday, two days after Snape's revenge, James noticed a small crowd of Gryffindors pushing their way up to the announcements board. It was right before lunch and he had been up on the boys' dormitory dropping off his books from Transfiguration that morning. James noticed a tall boy posting up a piece of parchment, insisting that the crowd of students back away before he had to jinx them. When the boy turned around James recognized him as Anthony Witlin, Gryffindors' new Quidditch Captain. 

"Oye! Anthony!" Shouted James being as he didn't feel like fighting his way though the crowd.

"Potter, how's it going? Did you see? I just posted the date and sign ups for Quidditch tryouts… you're still coming out aren't you?"

James was defiantly still interested in playing Quidditch this year and after his conversation with Anthony in the Great Hall at the welcoming feast, he felt he had a rather good chance of making the team. "Yeah I'm defiantly coming out! Can't wait it should be a lot of fun…how many members are returning from last year?"

Anthony started to list names while counting on his hands, "Well, Felix graduated so we're out one chaser, then Jeffrey was captain for the last two years but he just left as well so we're out a seeker. Keepers open as well because Eaton couldn't handle the work load being as she's in her N.E.W.T. year now. I believe Julie and Adien will be returning for chasers, and then Riley will be going out for Beater again. Then of course I fill the second Beater position."

"Well looks like you've got three really large shoes to fill in there, assuming the rest of the team hasn't lost their talent over the summer."

"Hopefully! I'm sure you'll fit in greatly as a chaser but no promises until I've seen everyone tryout." and with that Anthony winked and left the common room.

Immediately, James made his way to put his name on the list for tryouts. It was a rather tight squeeze and their was an annoyingly large amount of first years trying to look even though they obviously weren't going to make the team, _it's like the rarest thing to have a first year on the team, half of them they barely know how to fly, _James thought arrogantly. Without one more second of being shoved he took out his wand and yelled "Flipendo!" and all the first years around him were thrown backwards off their feet. Looking rather pleased with himself, James walked his newly cleared path up to the board and gracefully signed his name at the top of the list.

* * *

Remus found himself in the boys' bathroom with his hands gripping the rims of the bathroom sink he stood in front of. Rays of sunlight shot through the window leading outdoors showing it was a beautiful day to spend outside but yet again he found himself unable to leave the castle. Looking at himself in the mirror he realized he didn't look well at all. His skin had become pale and he found that there were dark circles around his eyes; it was obvious that the moon was approaching. Thinking about what he would tell his friends when he had to leave this weekend made his stomach twist and before he knew it he found himself in the nearest bathroom stall sick. Soon enough he let himself fall to the floor leaning against the door to the stall only to hear a banging from the outside and before he could even stand up, the sound of heels clicking on the tile filled the room. 

"Remus, what on earth are you doing?" asked Sky as she tapped her pointy toed shoe outside the stall in which Remus sat.

He pushed himself up off the tiles and opened the stall coming face to face with his best friend. She had her arms crossed and had that indistinguishable look of impatience on her face that Remus knew too well, "Sorry… just taking a break."

"When's the next moon?"

"Saturday night."

"Thought so… you look a bit peaky. We're going to be late for lunch, are you hungry?"

"Not really, I honestly don't want to have to explain to the guys as to why I'm leaving on the exact date of James's Quidditch tryout…I mean, he's been waiting for it forever and we all promised to go watch to support him…and now I have to bail."

"Oh Remus," Sky grabbed his thin wrist and dragged him over to the nearest wall where she let herself slide down to the floor pulling him down with her. She pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned her head back against the wall trying to think of a way to reassure Remus that once again his secret would be safe…she was starting to run out of things to tell him. "Just stick with the story, if Dumbledore thinks it'll still hold over then you need to trust him. Plus none of the guys have ever met your mother so who are they to say if she's really sick or not."

"I know…you've told me a million times that-"

"Plus, Sirius, Peter, and I will all be there to support James. You can't avoid telling him forever you know."

"I know, let's just… can we just stay here for lunch right now, I really just don't feel well…I'll talk to them at dinner."

"Suit yourself." Responded Sky as she reached into her school bag and pulled out a paper bag. She turned back to Remus and removed two sandwiches from the bag handing one over to Remus.

"What's this?"

"The second I saw you headed for the bathroom I ran ahead of the fellas and grabbed us some food… you've got to be mental if you think I'm going to spend my lunch hour in the boys bathroom with you _without_ food!"

Remus laughed and took a bite of the sandwich as he leaned back against the wall finally feeling as relaxed as he could since James told him the date of his trial. He threw an arm around Sky's shoulders and said, "I should've known the second I heard your toes tapping from the other side of that stall."

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the Great Hall students at the Gryffindor table were excitedly discussing the upcoming Quidditch Trials. Anthony Witlin was being bombarded by random students asking random questions so often that he found himself diving behind statues and suits of armor while he walked down the hallways just to avoid them. James was determined to not be one of these students; after his little meeting with Anthony in the common room the night the dates were posted he decided it was better to leave Anthony alone… though the Quidditch tryouts were the only thing on his mind. 

"James, you're drooling again." said Sirius bluntly as he reached across the table grabbing a roll. Sirius and Peter had been discussing the new spell they were supposed to have practiced the previous night for their Charms class after lunch but James's mind was obviously elsewhere being as he was staring into complete oblivion with his mouth wide open.

"What?" asked James as he snapped back into reality.

"You're drooling again…you know that thing you do when you aren't paying attention to a word we are saying and just wondering what is going to happen on Saturday."

"Ew and you're drooling on my Daily Prophet! When you asked to read it I didn't realized that's what you meant." said Peter as he grabbed the paper from James's hands. "If you think about the auditions any longer or harder I really believe that your brain is going to just malfunction."

"Sorry, it's just hard to think of anything else when it's all anyone is talking about…where are Remus and Sky?"

Sirius looked around and shrugged his shoulders. Peter folded up his Prophet and answered, "I saw Remus dodge into the boys bathroom back on the third floor…I think Sky went after him there."

Sirius's eyes got small as he scrunched his face up obviously thinking about what Peter had just said. He put down his fork and swallowed his bite of food he had just taken and said, "Come to think about it, that bloke does that a lot doesn't he. Every so often you find him making excuses to just pop into the boys' bathroom but he never wants us to follow. He looked sick this morning if you ask me _and _I woke up before him this morning…that's just completely abnormal!"

"You're right Sirius; he does get like that a lot." agreed Peter.

James looked at his two friends thinking the conversation was ridiculous and simply said, "Ever think that maybe he's worried about his mum. I mean she's been sick ever since we've met him and that can't do well on someone."

Sirius leaned onto the table dropping his voice down and said, "No really, think about it James… it's almost like there's a pattern to it… and even he-"

"Even he looks sick himself." Finished James, "Yeah, I've noticed that too. Well, I'm sure he's just worried about his mum. Just drop it Sirius, you're too damn curious sometimes."

"Yeah, Yeah…"

"What are you mad because I'm not jumping to conclusions along with you and getting ready to accuse our friend of lying to us?"

"No…but you'll see…it's a Black's intuition, I know when something fishy is going on. Plus Peter's got my back don't you mate!"

Peter laughed and patted Sirius on the back, "I think you may have lost your mind this time Sirius, common we'd better head to class before Flitwick busts us for being late again." The three boys got up and headed out of the Great Hall at a slow pace even though they were on the verge of being tardy. Sirius still seemed deep in though about Remus, while James couldn't help but get his mind stuck on Quidditch again, Peter just strolled down the hallway in between his two friends wondering what detention they'd land themselves in this time when they showed up late.

* * *

The five friends reunited after lunch in Charms class, Peter, James, and Sirius having luckily slipped in ten minutes late without being noticed. When Sirius questioned Remus and Sky about missing lunch Sky quickly commented on how she made Remus help her practice her Engorgement spell before they headed to class. Then when Sky noticed Sirius's look of disbelief and Remus's discomfort she demonstrated how well she was now able to do it with her wand, without her wand, and silently. 

"Ok Sky I get the point…you practiced" replied Sirius as he playfully pushed her, "Show-off!"

The rest of the day was rather peaceful, that's if you don't count Severus gracefully jinxing Sirius's shoelaces to wrap around his ankles and trip him on their way down to dinner. Before either he or James had a chance to retaliate Snape was gone and out of sight. Brushing it off they made their way down to dinner.

"What do you mean you can't come to the Quidditch trails!!" yelled James across the table at Remus who had just broken the news to him about his mum.

"James I really am sorry, you know I wouldn't normally back out like this. It's just, my father wrote me this morning and she really isn't doing well. I think it'd be a really good idea for her to see me, it always seems to help a little."

Sirius had stopped eating completely the second the words came out of Remus's mouth, he still didn't buy it. "Remus…isn't that what Healers are for…plus what difference would it be if you went there Sunday, why does it have to be Saturday?"

James looked Sirius in the eyes and could tell what he was doing in a second. Sirius would never admit if he was wrong about something and he knew the second he had told Sirius he was crazy that Sirius would stop at nothing to prove he was right.

"You know what…I think you're all being completely inconsiderate. If Remus feels he must see his mother then he will do that if he pleases and if you, James, are going to be angry with your friend for caring about his sick mother than that's just despicable of you!"

Remus looked at Sky next to him, she had a look of determination that hid behind the fierceness in her blue eyes and he couldn't help but think _she's going to hell_ for making James feel guilty for something that wasn't even real. He had to hold himself back from giggling.

"Well…no, sorry Remus…I understand really…its fine. I hope your mother gets better."

Sirius slinked back into his seat having gotten all excited from his progress in breaking Remus…he looked James in the eyes but all he received back was a _drop it Sirius_ look and when Sky, Remus, and Peter excused themselves to the library Sirius slid so he was face to face with James across the table.

"You know it's weird…just admit it.", he said.

"Yea, I know but there's got to be some reason for him lying."

"I'm telling you there's a pattern to it…why can't he just go see his mum Sunday? It _has_ to be Saturday."

"That's what gets me and you notice Sky's always jumping in to defend him…I bet she knows what's up."

"Oh defiantly…I mean, her and Remus are attached at the hips so if he's got some secret you know she's got the inside scoop."

"Well then she's the place to start isn't she? Now before we get any deeper into this conversation I've just found us the perfect opportunity to screw around with Snape…watch this!" James leaned to his left so he had a better view or the pale Slytherin that sat two tables away. Right when Severus lifted his goblet up to his face to take a sip of his pumpkin juice James flicked his wand as he gracefully let his incantation slip off his tongue. Before the boy knew what hit him, his nose was growing and growing and immediately got stuck in his goblet. James and Sirius roared with laughter as they watched the greasy haired boy struggle to pull the cup off his face and laughed even harder when he fell backwards off the bench. Feeling accomplished and full of food they grabbed their bags and headed up to the dormitory with no intentions of finishing homework and many intentions of discussing the opposite sex while playing wizards chess.

* * *

The air was chilly and the sky was dark. There was an anxious feeling in the air and everyone was restless. The wood of the floors and the walls creaked all around Remus. He was lying on his side in the middle of an old dilapidated bedroom, staring at the boarded up windows and torn up drapes. The moon was not yet out and about, but he knew it was coming…he could feel it in his stomach, in his blood, and in his heart. Slowly he pulled his knees up close to his body trying to control the feeling. It was as if a force was pushing through his veins and about to burst throughout his body. He closed his eyes tightly and thought to himself, _you are stronger than this and you do not have to let the beast take over._

Thought wasn't enough. Before he could even try his best to restrain his inner beast the moon was full. He opened his eyes and sat up abruptly. As he stared through the boards that kept him inside he felt the cold piercing moonlight fall onto him. His handsome brown eyes turned bold and black and his body jerked and twisted until he was no longer recognizable as Remus Lupin. There he stayed for the night, not out on the Quidditch Pitch wrapped in scarves and gloves. Not cheering along with his friends as they watched James conquer the sky. Not inside the common room with his fellow Gryffindors working on papers or reading books in front of the fire. Not even in his own bed wrapped in his garnet sheets.

* * *

Sky sat shivering in between Sirius and Peter up in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch. Once the sun had gone down the October air became awfully breezy and Sirius's scarf wasn't as effective when shared between three people. Slowly the stands filled up with other students who had ventured out of the castle to watch their friends audition for the team. Sky's leg twitched up and down as she stared out into the darkening sky and awaited the start of the auditions. She was anxious and upset, though she couldn't let it show through without people being suspicious. 

"Sky quit moving around, you're driving me mad!" said Sirius as he finally pulled his scarf off of his two friends and wrapped it around his own neck.

"Oye! It's bloody cold Sirius come on don't take away the scarf!" complained Peter as he tried to pull back the scarf.

Sky scooted over closer to Peter and put her arm around him, "Don't worry Peter, the trials will start soon and we'll be up and cheering, not sitting still so we won't even notice."

Soon enough Sky's point was proven. Anthony Witlin made his way onto the center of the field followed by all the Gryffindors auditioning for the team. Being far away, nobody up in the stands could hear Anthony directing and coordinating the trials but it seemed as if he was arranging people into groups most likely depending on the position they were going out for. James stood next to four taller students who were obviously older than he but still held his head up high and didn't let them intimidate him. The Seekers went first followed by the Beaters who made for an interesting time being as some of the students auditioning were so uncoordinated that they almost knocked out Anthony with the bludgers. Keeper auditions went quickly and before they knew it the Chasers were up.

James flew miraculously and was by far the best one out there. Peter, Sirius, and Sky screamed and cheered for him as he flipped, twisted, and dodged throughout the sky. When he landed it was obvious that Anthony was impressed and he patted James on the back. James's stomach finally untwisted. From the second he had left the dorm to come down to the pitch he had felt sick to his stomach, for this was what he had wanted all year and ever since he'd come to Hogwarts.

When the last Chaser landed on the grass Anthony announced that he would be in the locker rooms for a while making his final decisions and that he wished for everyone to wait outside. That way he could hand over the uniforms and welcome his new team that night.

"Do you think we should go down there?" asked Sirius as he leaned over the edge of the stands watching the small crowd settle themselves outside the locker rooms.

Peter stood up, pulled his jacket closer to his body and said, "Yeah, I think we should."

Sirius and Peter headed toward the stairs and then realized Sky hadn't moved, "Sky, are you coming?" asked Peter.

"You know what, I think maybe you guys should just go down without me…I'm exhausted and I'll just see the new team in the morning…plus James is a shoe-in."

Sky wasn't looking at the boys as she talked; instead she was staring up at the sky looking at the newly formed moon. Sirius noticed something was wrong and sat down next to her, "Sky…is everything ok?"

"Oh! Oh hah, yea I'm fine Sirius really. Just zoned out for a second there, I don't feel very well to be honest. Tell James he did splendid for me, I'm real proud!"

Something was wrong and Sirius wasn't a complete idiot. He looked Sky right in the eyes and she instinctively looked away. Before he had a second to say another word about it she stood up and walked away; he couldn't help it any longer…he hated seeing her upset like this and he knew who it was about. Before he knew it he stood up, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back, "Where'd Remus really go tonight, Sky?"

"What?" She looked completely caught off guard.

"Why did Remus have to bail on tonight? What's going on?" Sirius would not let her go and Peter just looked back and forth between his two friends.

Sky pulled her arm away from Sirius and looked him straight in the eyes, "He is back home at the cottage with his mother. Right exactly where he said he'd be." And she left the stands.

Peter looked up at Sirius and said, "What was that?!"

"You saw the look in her eyes when I asked her…she's lying, and she's lying for him."

* * *

_Another Chapter done ____ Hope you all enjoy and please Review! Hope everyone's having a nice summer!_

_-DMC_


	8. Would I Lie to You?

Chapter Eight: Would I Lie to You?

Sky stormed her way down the wooden staircases of the Quidditch stands, the wood creaking beneath her and she stomped onto each step; yet she wasn't mad. She was worried…the second Sirius had grabbed her arm and looked into her eyes her stomach had dropped. Remus wasn't fooling them anymore and by the looks of it, Sirius had decided to take on the mystery head first, which Sky knew would have a horrible outcome for Remus. Rather than return to her dormitory she decided to take a detour, an extremely forbidden detour. She could hear students coming down the steps behind her most likely having the intentions of either returning to the Gryffindor tower or joining their friends down by the locker rooms while they awaited the announcement of the new team. Sky quickly bent down and unzipped her black leather boots, slipped them off her feet, and without hesitation she scampered her way across the wet grass.

She could see Peter and Sirius come down from the stairs and make their way to the locker rooms where James was waiting; luckily they had not seen her. The air was cold but she still kept her shoes off being as she couldn't run with them on. Her toes became numb by the time she made it to her destination. Looking ahead Sky had never felt so small. The tree that all the students referred to as the "Whomping Willow" stood before her still as ever, but Sky wasn't stupid…she remembered what Remus told her it was for.

She took only two steps forward before the tree became active. Right as a set of long thin branches came swinging down toward her, she threw her hands out in front of her and without barely any thought the tree froze. As she walked closer to the trunk of the tree, the branches seemed to be repelled by her. She directed the twigs away from her body with her glowing enchanted fingertips and slowly slipped her way down into the secret opening at the root of the tree.

The opening led down to a long narrow pathway…Sky knew where it led but was still nervous; she knew she wasn't allowed down there. She hurriedly made her way down the path getting more anxious with each step. Her shoeless feet were now covered in dirt and starting to hurt from all the rocks she was stepping over but she didn't slow down. Finally, at the end of the path, was a solid wooden door…and behind it was Remus.

"Remus…are you there?" she yelled quietly as she tapped her knuckles on the door, "It's me"

She could hear movement behind the door and suddenly there was a loud thud indicating someone banging from the other side. Startled she had jumped back but she knew it was just Remus and could sense the pain he was in. Sky sank down next to the door and placed her palm flat against the wood wishing for nothing but for Remus to feel comforted.

* * *

The thin, frail, werewolf version of a second year Hogwarts student heard a noise, it sounded like a voice. Following its animal instincts it followed the smell of human flesh all the way to the one single door that kept it in from the world outside. Hearing a small voice from the other side and frustrated that it could not get there, the beast slammed its fists against the strong door. Suddenly, a small glowing handprint became present in the woods surface. The monster couldn't take its eyes off the bright light. Feeling warmer inside and more controlled, the werewolf fell down to the floor. Its heart felt fuller and the werewolf no longer felt alone. Slowly, it lifted its hand up and placed it over the glowing one on the door. The dark beady eyes of the werewolf gracefully returned to their natural chestnut brown color and finally, for the first time the entire night, Remus was able to see through his own eyes.

* * *

The night was running late and it was nearing midnight. Sky felt it wouldn't be a smart idea to stay next to the door much longer but it broke her heart to walk away. Forcing herself to leave, she got up and made her way out of the Whomping Willow and back up to the school. _Poor Remus_ was all she could think as her wet, dirty feet slapped against the tile floors of the school hallways. She made it back to the common room before twelve but was surprised to hear noise from outside the entrance. The portrait of the Fat Lady who usually just asked for a password said, "Where have you been missy? You've been missing out on the celebrating…I believe your little friends have just broke into yet another bottle of champagne stolen from the kitchens, tsk tsk, these children are out of control." And she opened up revealing the Gryffindor common room. 

The common room was in an uproar! Music was playing loudly and students stood around mingling and dancing. She stepped into the room and looked above reading the large banner that hung between the girls and boys dormitory staircases; the sign read in big dancing letters "**Congratulations, Gryffindor Quidditch Team! Quidditch Cup Here We Come!**"

Suddenly, Sky was being tackled by a mass of garnet and gold. Pushing it away she recognized the blur as James who was now dressed in his new team uniform with "Potter" in big gold letters displayed across his back.

"JAMES! You made it! I knew you would, sorry I didn't stick around I just had something important to attend to but oh my!"

"Yeaaaaaa! Witlin announced like twenty minutes after the trails had ended and well everyone was real excited. It's all about winning isn't it and Anthony defiantly picked the best team, so everyone was really supportive of us! How do I look?" James yelled as he stumbled back a step showing off his outfit.

Soon, Sirius ran over throwing his arms around Sky and James, she giggled at her two friends as Sirius started talking, "Heya Sky! Just in time for the celebrating! Can you believe it, our own best mate on the team! Brilliantly done!"

Just then James was pulled away by the other members of the team so they could 'cheers' another drink leaving Sky and Sirius on their own. The smile suddenly slipped off his face and he could barely look Sky in the face. "Um, I wanted to apologize for earlier, Sky."

"What for exactly?"

"Well, first off…accusing Remus of lying. He's a good guy and I should've just dropped it. Well, and I really wanted to apologize for grabbing you like I did. I guess I'm more like my father than I know." He was finally looking Sky straight in the eyes and had picked up her arm gently; examining the place he had grabbed to make sure he hadn't hurt her.

Sky didn't really understand what Sirius meant by that. "Sirius what do you mean?"

"Oh nothing, my father just gets a bit forceful sometimes…must be in my blood."

"Don't think twice about it. You're all forgiven."

They smiled at each other and in the spirit of the party, Sirius took Sky's hand and twirled her around in a circle to the beat of the music playing in the background. He moved close to her and started to do a bit of a two step waltz while still carrying on normal conversation, "So how was Remus?"

Being totally distracted by Sirius's awkward dance moves and not thinking twice, she answered, "Oh I guess he's been better."

They both stopped and looked at each other…Sky caught in a lie and Sirius victorious. A smirk fell across his face and he leaned forward and whispered, "I knew you were lying…you're horribly fabulous at it on most occasions but if you let someone catch you straight in the eyes like I did earlier this evening you give it away so easily."

Deciding it was better to just cover up like she had misunderstood Sirius's question and hoping that Sirius was too drunken to remember the incident all together she too let a silly smirk fall across her face and said, "Sirius you're right, you are such a Black at times; sneaky right to the end. You misunderstood my answer as I misunderstood you question. I received a letter from Remus just before…his mother's gotten worse. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed."

She turned away from him elegantly and strutted her way toward the girl's staircase. Right before she made it to the first step she was stopped by one of her favorite fifth year boys.

"Well, hello there!" He said charmingly as he stepped in front of the staircase.

"Hello Anthony, your new team looks superb…can't wait to see what they have in store for us."

"Yeah, they're the top picks and should defiantly deliver", Sky laughed as she saw the crowd of new chasers by the fireplace pop the cork on yet another bottle of champagne and she turned to Anthony as he continued, "Listen I was just thinking, we should get a group together sometime soon and go play a round of Quidditch or even your fun game of soccer."

"Yeah! I'd love that, but if you'll excuse me…I've had a bit of a rough night."

Without another word Anthony stepped aside and let Sky retire for the night…one of the longest nights she'd had in a while.

* * *

Slightly dumbfounded and slightly drunk, Sirius just stared blankly at Sky as she made her way up to her bedroom, practically being felt up by Anthony Witlin on her way there. _Chump_, he thought as he glared at the tall shaggy haired fifth year. Anthony slumped onto the couch next to the new beater he appointed that evening and continued his celebrating. Sirius still stared in the direction of Sky. What was it she was hiding? What was it that she was hiding for Remus, was more of the question he should be asking? 

Suddenly Sirius's train of thought was derailed as James grabbed him around the shoulders and yelled into his ear, "What's got you down mate?"

Sirius grabbed James on the shoulders and looked at him straight in the eyes, "James…you've got to take me up on this, Sky and Remus are defiantly hiding something. Ask Peter! Earlier when we were watching you tryout I asked Sky where Remus really was and you should have _seen_ the look on her face!" Sirius continued to tell James exactly what had happened on both of his meetings with Sky that night and the more Sirius spoke the more James believed him.

"Are you serious?"

"James, would I lie to you?"

James walked over to where two 6th years were passed out asleep on the cushioned couches that sat below four tall, adjacent windows that looked out over the black lake outside. He sat down on the vacant cushions and looked out into the sky. "You know, I believed you before too. It's almost like I was just ignoring you because I didn't like the fact that someone who I thought I really knew was lying to me. You're not mad are you?"

"Don't worry about it…but now you have no choice but to help me and Peter solve the mystery!" Sirius said as he sat down next to James.

James just stared out the window as the moonlight shinned brightly onto his face. Before the two boys decided to call it a night and head up to their beds James said in an interested tone, "You know…the moon is quite large tonight isn't it."

* * *

Remus returned to classes two days after the full moon, having secretly spending those two days in the hospital wing recovering. Remus had congratulated James on making the team the second he saw him and even went out of his way to buy James a new pair of Chaser gloves. 

"Remus, these are great! Makes it a lot easier to grip the quaffle! You didn't have to."

"Don't think twice about it, I felt so bad and I thought I'd make it up to you."

The boys seem to forget the fact that Remus missed out on the tryouts and things went back to normal once he had returned but Sky didn't find this normal at all. She had heard the things Sirius had said and she knew that she had let some things slip that she shouldn't have, yet nobody had said anything else about it. Sky didn't have the nerve to tell Remus what information she accidentally let out and she definitely wasn't going to bring it up to front of Sirius, James, or Peter if they had decided it was nothing to be concerned with.

"Remus, you're back." The group looked up from their breakfast to see the fiery red-head they knew too well standing behind Remus.

Remus turned around and sat up, "Hey Lily! Yea, I just got back this very morning."

"How's your mother doing? Well I hope."

"She's been better but I think the visit may have brightened up her weekend a bit."

"Well, it's good to see you back in time for classes. If there's anything I can do just let me know."

Before Lily had a chance to leave, James leaned forward across the table," So, Lily did you hear that I made the Quidditch team? You should come out and watch practice this week." he said with a wink.

"Great, yet another chance for me to watch you strut about and gloat to the rest of the school." She bit back as she turned on her heel and gracefully made her way back to her seat.

Sirius snorted into his eggs and after choking a little bit commented, "Smooth James, real Smooth."

* * *

Most people would look at James and Sirius and think 'slackers'. They always managed to get extensions on their work, never seemed to be doing anything but fool around and lounge in the common room, and with all the pranks and bullying they did, they didn't have half the dentitions to show for them. James and Sirius were the teacher favorites to some eyes, in other eyes they were just plain sneaky, but _some_ knew the truth and _that_ was that they were brilliant. 

Ever since Remus's little "visit" to see his mother James, Sirius, and Peter went to work on cracking the big secret. The very night of the Quidditch tryouts the three boys hadn't slept a wink and stayed up all night deciding their plan of action. Peter thought it a good idea to document the days that Remus had been gone, three memories put together and they were able to recall almost ever instance where Remus had been excused from school. James added that they should keep observations of Remus and even some of Sky being as she was the key to finding out his secret. Together they determined it would be smart to pretend like it was nothing unusual when he left so that Sky wouldn't get suspicious of their investigation. By dawn they had an entire game plan.

The school year went on without much more thought on the matter…at least from Remus and Sky's point of view. James began Quidditch practices and even led the team to victory in their first game against Ravenclaw. The self-declared feud between the gang and Severus Snape continued to pop up here and there with bloody noses, boiling over cauldrons, jinxed shoes that kept you tap dancing nonstop, and even a boggart that somehow Snape managed to get into Sky's book bag.

"BLOODY HELL!" the entire Gryffindor common room looked up from their school work and conversations and stared up in the direction of the girl's dormitory. Remus and Lily had been working on a transfiguration essay together and looked at one another with confused expressions when the distinctive voice of Sky screeched from above.

Suddenly the door to the second year girl's bedroom burst open and out came an extremely frantic brunette. Sky was covered in what looked like black, hairy spiders and was flinging her arms back and forth trying to hit them off her body. Her hair was flying in all sorts of directions as she tugged here and there at her white wife beater tank top.

"Gettem off, PLEASE!" she yelled almost in tears as she whacked them away from her face.

James, Sirius, and Peter had just then entered the common room; heads tilted close together whispering when they saw what was happening. People stood in shock as Sky screamed and tripped her way down the staircase still trying to get the spiders off. Finally, the shock having sunk in, Lily and Remus jumped out of their seats and begun to try and smack the spiders off, but they wouldn't fall off. Only seconds after Remus had gotten close to Sky the bugs suddenly disappeared but Remus was no longer paying attention to Sky; above Remus hung a large yellow orb that shinned brightly down on his thin face.

"A Boggart?!" exclaimed Lily as she whipped out her wand and said, "Riddikulus!" The orb blew away like a deflating balloon and landed in the wooden cabinet that stood against the wall.

Sky collapsed to the floor in tears as she continued to smack at her body as if the spiders were still present. Remus snapped out of his confused trance and bent down next to Sky trying to console her. Lily however turned to the crowd of people standing around and asked, "How did a boggart get into our dormitory? Sky…where did it come from?"

James, Sirius, and Peter had all observed the scene from a distance and were quite confused by it indeed….a boggart? Glowing orbs? Lily being nice?

"My-m-m-my book bag." Stuttered Sky, she was still twitching and swatting away non-existent bugs.

"Snape!" shouted Sirius suddenly.

James looked confused, "Sirius, Snape obviously isn't here-"

Peter had caught on and interrupted James, "Last time Sky had her bag opened was last period in potions. Must've been a small boggart to fit in whatever it was Snape had been carrying it in before he snuck it into her bag. Maybe we should take her to Madam Pomfrey; she could treat her for shock."

"Good idea Peter." Said James as he and Sirius made their way over to Sky to help her up, "We can take her to the hospital wing, Peter why don't you go find a teacher that can get rid of the boggart that's now taken a liking to our common room."

"Remus are you alright?" said Lily suddenly. He was still crouched down where Sky had been sitting but he had a determined and angry look on his face; a look nobody had ever seen on Remus. Suddenly he jumped up and shoved his way past his friends and out of the common room. He was going to find Snape if it was the last thing he did.

Finally, he made it down to the dark damp area of the castle in which he knew the entrance to the Slytherin common room would be found. Luckily he ran into the exact group he was looking for. Severus Snape was walking side by side with Regulus Black; they had their head over a book and were obviously discussing something school related. "Could I have a word Severus?"

The scrawny boy looked up from his book. The scene was very awkward…one single Gryffindor clad in a garnet sweater stood surrounded by multiple Slytherins dressed in green and silver. Remus didn't notice half of the students staring at him and looked very out of place down in the dungeons. "Um, yea I guess."

They didn't step away very far before Remus began to speak, or rather threaten, "Pranks are one thing, even humiliating each other, changing appearance, tripping in the hallways…but you've gone _too_ far. A boggart Severus? Whose brilliant idea what that one, which one of your sick Slytherin buddies decided to slip a boggart into a poor girls book bag?"

"It's just a boggart Remus, they can't hurt-"

"Did you know she's terrified of spiders, Severus? Horribly terrified, so scared I used to have to kill them in her room for her or she'd have a panic attack. Well I hope you're happy because you've now sent her crying and in complete shock to the hospital wing." And with that, Remus walked away. He was mostly upset about Sky…she rarely cried and to see her in that kind of a panic was horrible but he was also defending himself. He could only hope that all his friends didn't recognize that his biggest fear was a full moon.

* * *

The pranks seemed to end there for a while. Remus had most definitely gotten through to Severus and was pleased to see his friends weren't really planning an attack back; little did he know that his friends were, in a way, planning an attack against him. Remus's form of a boggart didn't slip the three boy's minds and there were many conversations held on why Remus would be afraid of balloons, crystal balls, or light bulbs. 

"What's a light bulb?" asked Sirius in an idiotic tone

James just shook his head and replied, "You're hopeless, open a damn Muggle studies book."

Sky had spent the night of the boggart incident and most of the afternoon after in the hospital wing frequently crying and being forced to drink a shock relieving potion by Madam Pomfrey. Remus had joined his friends there after his little meeting with Snape and stayed until Sky finally fell asleep. The boys stopped in between their classes the next day and filled her in on what she missed, Remus having taken extra notes for her, Sirius and James having taken none at all and Peter's being completely illegible. At one point near the evening, Sky had woken up from a nap to see a lovely bouquet of yellow roses in a silver vase at the foot of her bed, but there was oddly no note with them.

Soon enough Sky was back in classes along with her friends and the school year was quickly rolling into November; along with Thanksgiving came another full moon. The Great Hall was decorated with long golden table cloths and shimmering banners that hung from the ceiling come the night of Thanksgiving. Along the table were bowls and platters of scalloped corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry fluff, dinner rolls, and a number of large golden brown turkeys. The five friends sat pleasantly stuffing their faces with the great feast when Remus cleared his throat.

"Um, so I have to leave again." He tried to say casually.

Sirius, James, and Peter all glanced at each other and began what was obviously a well rehearsed conversation. Peter sat up and started, "Where to Remus?"

"Same as usual, back to the valley to check on my mother."

Sirius stepped in, "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow afternoon."

James leaned forward, "How long will you be gone for?"

"Probably just a few days, two or three."

"Where were you on the night of September 27th!?" jumped in Sky as she giggled. "Good lord boys, what is this? An interrogation? Why don't you just whip out the Veritaserum now?"

As if almost on queue the boys laughed along with Sky. James patted Remus on the back and said, "Well, have a good time mate, give your mum our blessings." And they returned to dinner.

* * *

Remus packed his bags as he did every time he "left" and made his way out of the common room accompanied by Professor McGonagall, their head of house. Sky was studying in the library with Bridget and Audrey leaving the rest of the boys to themselves up in the boy's dormitory. 

"Let's follow him." , said Sirius only a few seconds after Remus had left the room.

James sat up, his dark hair falling over his eyes and a mischievous look across his face, and said, "Better grab our cloaks, its cold out."

"Won't we be seen?" asked Peter as he watched Sirius and James scamper around the room grabbing their shoes and scarves.

"You're forgetting Peter," yelled Sirius from under his bed where he was looking for his left shoe, "I'm a Black. Sneaky is my middle name. We just have to stay a few seconds behind him just to get a view of where he's really heading."

"Brilliant Sirius!" , exclaimed James.

After the three teens had all their shoes on they snuck quickly out of the common room. Some questioned where they were headed to and they simply replied that they fancied a walk. Sneaking down the hallway that lead to the Gryffindor tower entrance they could hear the voice of Professor McGonagall speaking quietly to Remus. They followed the pair all the way down to the hospital wing, hiding behind suits of armor and peaking around corners as to not be seen. There Madam Pomfrey joined the pair dressed in a thick gray woolen coat. She was pulling on a matching hat and gloves as they made their way toward the entrance to the school.

The boys had always thought that Remus left the school through the floo network in Dumbledore's office or at least that's what Remus had led them to believe. So when McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey took Remus by the elbows and turned out onto the school grounds they were quite surprised. Even more oddly, Remus had ditched his bags all the way back at the hospital wing.

"Where ever he's headed he obviously only needs one pair of clean pants." joked James

The three boys peered out onto the grounds through a window next to school entrance. The sky was growing dark and dinner was nearing. Sirius leaned around the huge wooden doors that lead out to the grounds and when he felt Remus was far enough off to not hear them behind Sirius signaled for James and Peter to follow him. Trudging through the snow, they could feel the bitter wind on their faces and were starting to get fed up with their mission.

"Sirius, I want to know where he's going just as much as you do, but its freezing out here and this is getting a bit ridiculous." said James as he leaned back against a tree, a bit of snow off onto his head.

Peter joined James and strained to see what Remus was doing now, "Yea Sirius, I think this mission is bust. I'm not really sure where he's headed-"

"Wait!" interrupted Sirius, "They're stopping. What are they doing?" The boys stood up again and looked closely at the scene that was taking place ahead of them. Through the darkness and the snow they could just make out the Whomping Willow. Suddenly the three figures ahead disappeared down into what appeared to be a hole at the foot of the tree.

"Where'd they go!?" asked Peter.

"There must be a passage down there…maybe they'll come back, we should wait." suggested James but when they reappeared the group of three had diminished to a mere group of two. Hiding from Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey when they made their way back up to the castle James, Sirius, and Peter had made an extreme breakthrough.

Sirius looked at his two friends and said, "We may not know what he's doing, but at least we know where he's going, come on lets get to dinner…I'm starved." And with that, they jogged their way back to the Great Hall leaving their mysterious friend behind.

* * *

Thanksgiving came and went, the full moon came and went, and soon enough Christmas holiday came and went. With all the students gone, sparkling snow covered the Hogwarts grounds completely undisturbed. Sky and Remus had spent most of their holiday together having snowball fights and defrosting in front of their family fireplaces that is until Sky's father decided to drag Sky and her mother off to Prague for the last week of vacation. Sirius was stuck in the house of Black like usual trying best to avoid Regulus and the rest of his horrible family while James was stuck at the Potter manor dying for some company. Peter spent most of his time with his mother, helping her cook and tidy the house; he hated life away from Hogwarts but he, like the rest of his friends, had no choice but to return home for the holidays. 

The fluffy white snow that stood undisturbed didn't stay that way for long. The second the train rolled back into Hogsmead station and the students touched grounds again the entire castle broke back into life. Sky, who couldn't have been happier to be back at school with her friends, joined Audrey and Bridgett as the three girls ran across the grounds, giggling, their fur lined snow boots crunching through the snow and petticoat jackets blowing in the wind. Naturally, Sirius, James, and Peter started a snowball fight with the girls which soon enough just turned into tackling each other into the biggest snow bank they could find. Remus, however, sat peacefully on the stone wall that enclosed the school's courtyard.

"Remus, are you ok?", the stressed blonde boy looked up from his thoughts and saw Lily standing next to him, gloved hands stuffed deep in her pockets.

"Hey Lily, I'm fine…just have a lot on my mind."

She pushed the snow off the wall and jumped up so she was sitting beside him, she had been waiting for Alice on the front steps of the school but for some reason she was M.I.A, that's when she had seen Remus. She noticed that every once and a while, when the rest of Remus's buddies were running around like the kids they were, he'd be sitting somewhere off to the side deep in thought and looking slightly sick.

"You know, if you ever need to talk about anything, like something you can't talk to…them about" she said as she tilted her head in the direction of the now Sirius, Sky, Peter, and James dog pile, "you can talk to me."

"I know Lily, but unfortunately…I can only talk about this to one person and there's really nothing left that person can say to make me feel better about it."

"Remus, I'm not trying to butt in or be nosey but…are you sick? You just seem so healthy one moment and then another you look…different. It's kind of like with Muggles. I had an Aunt who had cancer and it's just you seem like her in the way that it would hit her harder some days rather than others."

Remus didn't look her in the eyes. He knew that what she was saying was true, sometimes the curse of being a werewolf affected him strongly and other days he felt perfectly normal. "I'm just like everyone else Lily. Now if you'll excuse me, James is tying his shoe and I feel I cannot pass up the opportunity to tackle him." And with that he was off.

Lily stayed seated on the wall as she watched Remus join his friends. She couldn't help but wonder what it was he was hiding and who it was he _could_ talk to about it but before she had any more time to think about it though she heard a voice calling her name.

"Lily! There you are!" Alice came running along the icy sidewalk towards Lily, stumbling a bit on her way, "Whoops! Sorry I'm late; I got caught up back at the train."

"Caught up with what exactly?" asked Lily as she jumped off the wall.

"Nothing important, now let's get inside before we freeze. Honestly, Bridgett, Sky, and Audrey are going to get frostbite if they stay out in that snow any longer." She said as she grabbed Lily by the hand and led her back into the castle. Lily tried to suppress a giggle as she noticed Frank Longbottom eyeing Alice as he stood with a group of students and she couldn't help but think that _that's_ exactly what Alice had gotten caught up with.

* * *

Before they knew it, classes had started up again and the post-Christmas excitement had begun to wear off. One night after dinner a loud knock filled the silence of the boy's dormitory and the five friends looked up from their conversation. 

"Come in!" yelled Remus from the floor where he had been sitting next to Sky as he talked her through levitating her Charms book with her mind.

The door burst open and in came the lovely Bridgett. She was in her nightgown and her hair fell over her shoulders in big blonde curls. "Oh I'm so sorry to bother you boys but we were just downstairs discussing today's Herbology class and it seems that Audrey, Alice, and I just can't decide who is correct in identifying a simple Mandrake. I know its silly, but we figured one of you fine fellas could help us!"

Sky looked Bridgett right in the eyes and the two girls exchanged smiles as they suppressed a fit of giggles. The evening before, Bridgett had confined in Sky that she had a huge crush on Remus and being as Sky knew that Lily and Frank, both of who receive top grades, were down in the common room as well, it was obvious this was Bridgett's silly attempt to get Remus to join her. Either way, Sky thought it would be good for Remus to socialize a bit more and she honestly thought Bridgett's crush was adorable.

"You know what Bridgette?" said Sky as she jumped up from the floor, "Remus and I were just practicing some charms and such, I'm sure we wouldn't mind joining you all downstairs to continue our studying now would we Remus!" It was more of a demand rather than a question, Sky bent down and pulled Remus up off the floor, along with her books and made her way toward the door.

A huge smile fell across Bridgett's face and she jumped up and down a bit clapping her hands, "Oh splendid! No reason we shouldn't get back to our studies straight away after holidays right? I'll go run and get us some snacks!" and she skipped her way out of the room.

"You guys coming?" asked Remus before Sky was able to pull him out of the room.

Before either Sirius or Peter could answer, James jumped right in, "Hah! That's funny Remus; we'll see you guys later."

Sky squeezed Remus strongly in the arm and whispered to him, "She likes you Remus! Don't worry, it'll be fun…just be nice!" she stopped briefly in front of a gold rimmed mirror beside Sirius's bed to fix her hair and asked to no one in particular, "I wonder if Anthony needs any help devising some new Quidditch plays." And she skipped out of the room followed by Remus who was shaking his head.

The second the door closed James jumped abruptly off his bed and rushed to his trunk which he began to dig through. Shoes, cloaks, books, and quills were flying everywhere when finally he pulled out a silvery looking blanket and turned to Sirius and Peter.

"Good lord, I've been waiting days now to get a second with the two of you alone so I could show you this! Check out what my father gave me for Christmas!" he threw the blanket over his head and suddenly vanished.

"An invisibility cloak!" shouted Sirius.

"Shh, I don't want anyone else to know I have it; I figured we could use it to follow Remus or something!"

Peter took hold of the cloak, "James this is brilliant!"

Sirius examined the cloak as well and then picked up his herbolgy book off the floor, "This is seriously ingenious! Before we know it, Remus's secret will be out in the open and that'll teach him a thing or two about hiding things from us now won't it! Now if you don't mind, I believe there is a crowd of girls in nightgowns down in the common room in need of a Herbology tutor and I am most certainly not one to pass that up!" , and with that Sirius darted out of the room.

James and Peter looked at each other and without another word, James stuffed the invisibility cloak back into his trunk and said, "Race you to the bottom of the stairs!" and the two boys pushed and shoved their way out of the room.

* * *

_So this one took me a while to get posted but hey, I was a tad bit busy reading the real thing! Which by the way I felt was by far the best! Well hope you enjoy the chapter, I'm really enjoying many of yours still! Please Review!_

_DMC_


	9. You Can Bet On It

Chapter Nine: You Can Bet On It

Come February, the students had fallen back into their naturally routine of attending classes, doing homework, studying for tests and sneaking in some fun in between. Straight away Peter began to fall behind but mostly everyone was use to that by now and it had actually become somewhat enjoyable to help him improve his skills. Being as Remus could rarely get James, Sky, and Sirius to settle down and do some work he had become accustomed to spending a lot of time with Lily Evans who, like himself, strived to achieve the top grades. Remus was surprised his three friends hadn't flunked out of any classes being as it seemed they spent more time flirting, playing Quidditch, and pranking first years than actually opening books, yet they were always on top when it came time to deliver.

Finally, the snow melted a bit and this led to an excuse for everyone to make their way outside and get in some physical activity. Being as the Gryffindors were going mad with cabin fever, most members of the Quidditch team and a few others decided to start up a friendly game of soccer; it may have been too cold to fly around on broomsticks but it was never too cold to run around kicking a ball. After hours of dodging, diving, scoring, and sweating the sky began to grow dark and eventually the ball was practically invisible.

"Oye! James that was my foot!" yelled Julie as she bent down rubbing her ankle, her fellow chaser apologizing profusely.

Anthony picked up the black and white ball that had rolled to his feet and announced, "Well, we have a match in a month so I'm going to say that playing in the dark is probably not the smartest idea. Last thing I need is to lose one of my chasers because James has poor eyesight!"

Everyone laughed and started to gather their jackets and other articles of clothing they had abandoned as the game got more heated, James adjusted his glasses and with a laugh said, "Oh bite me!"

Sky fixed her hair, pulling it out of its messy bun and then pulling it back into a straight pony tail centered on the back of her head. She hadn't abandoned any of her clothing but she had rolled up the sleeves of her long sleeved Puddlemere United shirt. As she was tying the laces on her red converse sneakers, Anthony came up behind her.

"Good game Sky…you know you've got a bit of a natural talent for sports, you ever consider going out for Quidditch?"

Sky stood up facing Anthony, he was tall and she only reached up to a little above his shoulders. "Well, I really love playing but I've never been one to play competitively. That's more of James's thing."

Anthony shrugged his shoulders and together they made their way back up to the warm castle, Riley, the equally tall, dark, and handsome beater on the team, joining them. Sky could see James, Julie, and Adien ahead of them, the two girls seemed to be quite smitten with James. _What a stud_, thought Sky as she laughed to herself. The warm air tingled Sky's skin as she stepped in the dimly lit castle, she was completely ready to skip all her homework for the night and crawl into her warm bed.

Bouncing the ball on the tile floor, Anthony and Riley ran ahead of Sky throwing it back and forth as hard as they could. Anthony would throw the ball straight at Riley's head, and Riley would dodge it no problem, Sky couldn't help but stand back and stare as the thought _Beaters are so dreamy_ ran through her head. Sports always made her daydream about boys.

Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her; she spun around quickly but didn't see anyone there. She watched Anthony and Riley continue their way up to the castle trying to peg each other but she stayed where she was. She quietly tip toed her way to the portrait of what looked like some old monks having dinner, a tall pillar stood to her left. While pretending to examine the portrait she looked out of the corner of her eyes and could see movement, "I'm not a complete prat, I can hear you."

The body jumped and poked his head from around the pillar. He had a familiar face but was a tad bit shorter and his eyes were darker, "I didn't want you to think I was following you."

"Well weren't you?" said Sky as she giggled.

"Well, yeah." He replied as he joined her in laughing.

Sky examined him. He was thin but in a good way, and tall, especially for a first year. His black hair was shaggy and long, definitely not as well kept as his brothers'. He had a handsome look and his eyes were piercing, with barely any color to them, the dark gray almost blended completely with his pupils. Sky couldn't help but notice how cute it was that his shirt was untucked and shoelaces were untied…he may look exactly like Sirius but his appearance told you different.

Regulus finally broke the silence, "I've been waiting for you all to come back into the castle. I was hoping to get a word alone because, well, I wanted to apologize."

Sky was confused…what was it with all these Black boys apologizing to her lately? When Sky didn't say anything and just seemed to get lost in his dark eyes, Regulus continued, "Well, the boggart. It was sort of my idea…I mean, I suggested it to Severus, so if you're going to be mad at someone. Be mad at me."

Sky was stunned. Why would Regulus suggest something so cruel, it's not like she ever did anything to him. "Well, in that case…" she ended her sentence there and turned on her heel to walk away but before she got more than three steps Regulus shouted behind her, "I thought he was going to put it in Sirius's bag. Not yours. I know, I know, that's still messed up but Sirius is such a prat and I thought it'd be funny to see his weak side you know? I really didn't know he was going to put it in your bag."

She stopped for a moment and looked over her shoulder at him. "Well, I don't quite understand this feud between your brother and yourself but he's my friend so either way it was still messed up. Listen, just forget about it, what's done is done."

She began to walk away once more and heard behind her in a deep sincere voice, "The roses were from me. I thought they'd make you feel better. I really am sorry." But when Sky turned around to look at him, Regulus was already gone.

Finally making her way back up to the common room, she climbed through the portrait hole feeling confused and surprised. When she looked up into the big warm room she saw her friends collapsed in front of the fire. Remus had his head pouring over his transfiguration textbook, while Peter and James were discussing Quidditch on the red couch but her eyes fell straight on Sirius. He was sitting on the big lounge chair that stood opposite of Remus flipping through a copy of the _Quibbler_.

His dark hair fell in front of his handsome face and Sky noticed him blow it away from his eyes while he tried to read. His eyes ran back and forth as he read the pages and Sky seemed to feel more welcome when she saw the light gray color turn up to look at her. A cheesy smile fell across his face as he motioned her over. As Sky walked over she noticed his shirt was tucked neatly, his shoe laces tied beautifully, and though his tie was pulled loose so it sat low on his chest, it was still tied neatly; it was nice to see his well groomed appearance. She hopped up onto the arm of the chair and leaned over to see what he was reading.

He laughed and pointed to a picture of an old, crazy looking woman wearing purple earmuffs, "Look, she claims a nargle stole her cat."

Sky giggled and decided to keep the information about Regulus to herself. Things were too perfect the way they were.

* * *

As the month rolled along, love began to fill the air with the thought of Valentine's Day approaching. Sky couldn't seem to get Bridgett and Audrey out of her hair; being as Sky was always hanging around the cutest boys in Gryffindor she was constantly being bombarded with questions concerning what type of girls James and Sirius liked. It became so ridiculous that even girls outside of the Gryffindor house began to ask for her advice on how to act around boys and what shoes they should wear to catch their attention, _like boys look at your shoes_ she would say to herself, out loud she always replied, "Heels, but not too high, boys don't tend to like it if you're taller than them."

Finally, as her head was about to completely combust with gushy love questions Sky took refuge in the 4th floor boys' bathroom, completely convinced she wouldn't have to give any advice in there.

"Oye! Sky!" the brunette spun around so fast after closing the door she cracked her neck. "Sorry Remus!"

"What on earth are you doing in here?" Remus asked as she held her hands over her eyes so he could continue his business in peace.

"My bad, lunchtime…I guess I didn't expect anyone to be in here during lunch."

"Well while you're here and away from gossiping mouths, I wanted to ask your advice about something."

_Oh boy, _"No problem, what about?"

"Well, you know how Bridgett told you she has a crush on me? I just wanted to know what you though about the whole situation. Not necessarily Bridgett, but you know, werewolves aren't usually included in love stories."

_You've got to be kidding me; for god's sake I'm in the BOYS bathroom! _"To be completely honest Remus, I don't see why you should handle relationships any differently than anyone else. Yeah, you have a minor situation-"

"Minor!" exclaimed Remus as he stood awkwardly in the center of the tiled floor.

"Ok, not minor but like you've always been told, try to live your life as normally as you possibly can."

"I just hate the fact that I'm not completely honest with people."

Sky walked over to Remus and linked arms with the tall boy. As she led him out of the bathroom and into the halls of Hogwarts all she could think to say was, "Well, you can be if you really want to. This isn't completely about girls anymore is it?"

They stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to look at each other. Sky read him so well and Remus loved that he didn't have to say half the things he would with others out loud; Sky just knew. "No."

Sky took his hands in hers and looked him straight in the eyes, "If you feel that they are trustworthy and loyal enough, then tell them Remus. They're our _best_ friends."

Remus shook his head and continued his way down the stairs, heading toward the Great Hall for lunch. Sky understood the conversation was done there and Remus was pondering a bag full of things: girls, relationships, Sirius, James, Peter, and the idea that they may disown him if only they knew.

Right as they entered the hall, Sky saw Alice heading toward her; everyone had been whispering about the way Alice and Frank looked at each other recently and Sky just couldn't handle _more_ Valentines' Day crap. She leaned in toward Remus and whispered, "I caught a cold and lost my voice, tell everyone and anyone that tries to talk to me." Naturally, Remus went along with the plan and Alice was left to go search for Lily to ask for advice.

Remus and Sky joined the boys at the table who were discussing Valentines' Day as well, but in a manner more to Sky likes. "You know what I would love? Spending Valentine's Day playing strip poker, past curfew, drinking some butterbeers, and then sleeping in until three the next day!" announced Sirius as he helped himself to seconds.

The group laughed and nodded in agreement, the thought actually didn't seem all that bad to Sky, why not throw in some fun rather than just drool over each other while throwing around the word "love". Just then Bridgett came over to the table with a small golden box, "Hey Remus! So I hear you're leaving tomorrow night to go see your mother again. Well, my aunt, she works in this chocolate factory in London, and well she sent me this box of Euphoria Chocolates and well I thought maybe you'd like them. Thought they'd cheer you up, being your mom is sick, maybe she'll even like some if she's well enough."

She sort of spit it all out really quick, leaving half of them completely confused because they could barely understand her, "Wow, Bridgett, that's really thoughtful. I'll make sure to share them with my mum, she loves chocolate." He smiled at Bridgett and as she turned and walked away Sirius and James threw punches at Remus and whistled; Remus blushed and Sky still sat there silently taking in the scene.

Remus spent Valentines' Day alone in his werewolf form, curled up in a ball and trying his best to stay strong. The rest of the group spent Valentines' Day the exact way they wanted. Staying up until four a.m. with the rest of the Gryffindor's who hated the pointless day, tipping back some drinks; half dressed, with a deck of cards.

* * *

As the weather began to warm up a bit the school became more anxious; the first Quidditch match since everyone came back from holiday was approaching. Anthony had the team out on the field every night come the month of March; James, Julie, and Adien were by far the best chaser team at the school and Anthony had them so on top of their game that they flew without barely any thought to it. James was sore from head to toe every night he came back from practice and was probably three days behind on his homework, but he knew it'd be worth it when the team took another victory and headed on their way to the Quidditch Cup; this game would put them straight into the running with Slytherin.

Soon enough the morning of the game approached and James found himself more nervous then expected. He entered the Great Hall with his friends; he was dressed, not in his game uniform, but his team warm-ups. The Gryffindor table cheered for each of the players as they entered and James found himself receiving many high-fives, thumbs ups, and "Get'em James!". James sat at the table and was immediately being handed piles of food by Sky, she always made sure he ate a good meal before a game.

Just as he was digging into his eggs and sausage, Riley and Anthony squeezed onto both sides of James.

Riley started eating off James's plate and asked, "You ready for the game, mate?"

"Aren't I always?"

Anthony pulled his arms over his head in a stretch and said, "Well, I ate twenty minutes ago, so you two finish stuffing you faces and get down to the pitch. We're warming up in fifteen." He winked across the table at Sky and got up and left.

Sky perked up and said, "Well, we'd better get up to the pitch to get good seats, right boys?"

"Good plan, Sirius get your face out of your oatmeal and come on!" joked Remus as he got up from the table, pulling Sirius with him.

James watched as his four friends left the hall. Sky had her hair down in long dark waves as usual that fell over her back; she had on a long sleeve garnet sweater with a gold sweatshirt over it. She wore a short dark garnet and black pleaded skirt and had pulled on some golden knee socks all to go along with her garnet converse sneakers. Remus wore his nice khaki pants with that long sleeve white button up he always spent so long on when he ironed. Over his button up, he had on a crazy stripped garnet and gold sweater vest, _now that's more like the Quidditch spirit Remus!_ thought James. Peter was wearing one of the funny "Go James" t-shirts that they had made as a joke one night when they were bored. Over it he had pulled a warm garnet sweatshirt that said Gryffindor in golden letters down each sleeve. Sirius wore a garnet long sleeve t-shirt that said, "This is a real Quidditch match" in crazy gold letters across the front. His old dark wash jeans fell just across the top of his yellow converse sneakers that he always insisted were way cooler than Sky's. James couldn't help but smile at his friends' outfits, he always loved to look up into the stands and see his four favorite people gone all out in garnet and gold, screaming his name. _Now that's house spirit!_

Shortly after the group left the hall to find some seats up in the stands, James joined Riley on his way down to the pitch for warm up. Warm up included of the team following Anthony in some simple stretches to make sure nobody pulled any muscles, the chasers tossed around the quaffle while the beaters practiced some swings with their bats. The seeker sat on the ground and would grab and release the snitch, not allowing it to go any further then arms length. After a bit of throwing the balls around and such, they did some quick drills on their broomsticks just to get loose and ready for the intensity of the game. Afterwards the entire team headed into the locker rooms to change into uniform.

James pulled his warm ups off and pulled on his khaki colored game pants. Over his game sweater he pulled his long garnet and gold robe. As he sat down to put on his shin guards and wrist guards, Julie and Adien sat next to him.

Adien pulled her hair back into a short ponytail and stated, "So rumor has it the Hufflepuff chaser team is pretty intense. Did you see them at the Ravenclaw game? Well, I went with Anthony to do some observing and the rumors are sort of true, they're a bit rough, which is surprising for Hufflepuff."

Julie giggled and said, "Maybe they're a bit tired of that stereotype, that they're soft. I have a feeling Abigail is going to bring it."

James looked up at Julie and asked, "Why Abigail?"

"Um, well I might have started a little of a quarrel with her the other day." Her two fellow chasers looked at her obviously annoyed, it was always better to try and stay on good terms with fellow Quidditch players otherwise you end up with dirty games. "Oh come on! You should've heard her, she kept ragging on us for having a second year as our third chaser and then she insisted her squad was better than ours, so I sort of told her to bring everything she's got."

Riley, who had been standing nearby, hit himself in the face with his hand and said, "Well, I'm sure the fact that I told their beater Tony the same thing won't help at any rate."

"Enough, enough!" they all looked up to see Anthony standing on the bench in front of them all, "Listen, I don't care who said what and who's going to 'bring it'. I say, we go out there and play the game we know how to play; we don't need violence or any of that nonsense to win this game because we've got the skill and talent. But if any of you see that sorry excuse of a beater Rory hit a bludger at me, that's when you know its ON and the dirty stunts are coming loose!" The team cheered and laughed at the same time, they all knew how Rory and Anthony had a feud and James was defiantly sure that this game wouldn't stay clean for long.

Soon enough the whistle was being blown and all the players on the field were kicking their feet off the ground and speeding their way into the air. Adien went straight for the quaffle and instantly passed it to James who dodged a bludger and threw it to Julie. Julie became side to side with Abigail, the dirty blonde Hufflepuff chaser, and was instantly pulled into a pushing match, Julie threw the quaffle back to James who was opened and James made for a goal. The game went on like that, pushing and shoving, the typical bludgers flying toward James's head, but naturally James kept his cool and scored with ease. Before they knew it the score was 300 Gryffindor, 250 Hufflepuff. The longer the game dragged on, the more violent everyone became. James always tried his best to play a clean game but when Tony swung his beater club straight at his head, James just about blew a fuse. Before he knew it, Chasers were kicking and grabbing robes, James included, all until Katie, the Gryffindor seeker ended the game with the catching of the snitch.

The teams lined up after landing on the ground, Gryffindor had won and they were on their way to the final match against the Slytherins for the Quidditch Cup! The Gryffindors looked over at the Hufflepuff and they smiled back at each other, it may have been a rough game but they had all had fun and hey, that's what Quidditch was about. James passed Abigail with Julie and Adien next to him and took her hand firmly and said, "Not bad for a Hufflepuff."

She laughed and shook his hand back, "Yea, not bad for a second year, James Potter. I look forward to our next game." And she walked away giggling.

Suddenly James was being flocked by his fellow Gryffindor second years. Though he was surrounded by his best friends and cute girls all swooning over how good he had played, he couldn't help but look over the crowd and notice the lovely red head he was always hoping would swoon over him. He excused himself away from the crowd and made his way across the grass toward her.

"Hey Evans! Enjoy the game?" He said as he leaned against the wooden staircase railing next to her.

"Um, sure, it was defiantly interesting." She seemed to be waiting for someone and not paying much attention to the fact that he, James Potter, the boy who had just helped his team pull off an awesome game, was talking to her.

"Just interesting? Not much into Quidditch are ya?"

"No, I don't mind Quidditch; I actually enjoy it a lot. But if you think that kicking girls in the face to get hold of a stupid ball is going to impress me, well you're thinking quite wrong."

"Oh come on Evans, you can't honestly be serious! Its Quidditch, that's the way the game, is played!"

She looked him up and down with a dirty glare, and walked away. _She is impossible,_ though James as he watched her join Alice on her way back up to the castle. _There's got to be some way to get Lily Evans to notice me._

* * *

Sky found herself in an empty hallway sitting on the windowsill of one of the lovely stained glass windows that were found all throughout the school. She had lost track of where she was as usual; she liked to wander off on her own at times to sit and write down her thoughts and somehow she always found herself in front of the same window. She looked up over her head, the window had the design of a beautiful mermaid on it and the sun was shining right through lighting up the whole hallway. The excitement of the game lasted for quite some time; James and the rest of the team were defiantly the talk of the house. James and Sirius were off catching the attention of the usual Quidditch player obsessed girls and Sky was sure that Peter was right by their side. Remus had left earlier that day for his mother had "fallen ill" once more.

Right as she was writing across her notebook her thoughts about Remus she heard the clicking of heals coming down the hall. She instantly shut her small leather bound notebook and pulled it closer to herself as she looked up to see who was walking down the hall. It was probably the last person Sky had expected to see waltzing down the hall, the very hall Sky had chosen to find some privacy. Sky and Lily had had their ups and downs ever since they'd met. They were both independent, ambitious, and a bit headstrong but when Sky liked to step outside of the box, Lily liked to find out ways to make the box stronger; that's where the problems were found. They seemed to have their moments when they felt they had so much in common, but Sky always seemed to be doing something wrong in Lily's eyes and Sky wasn't about to adjust her ways of life to please a roommate. Not to mention, Lily despised the boys who Sky couldn't love more.

"Lily, what leads you down this empty hallway?" Asked Sky as she swung her feet around so they were dangling over the side of the windowsill on which she sat.

"It's not exactly empty is it? I was actually on my way to the library; I find this is the quickest way from the dinning hall."

"I can barely find my way to my classes let along decide which is the fastest!" joked Sky.

Suddenly Lily looked a bit apprehensive as she went to speak again, "Sky, there was something I wanted to ask you."

Intrigued, Sky let her continue, "Well, I was just wondering where exactly Remus was. It's just, everyone always speaks of how his mother is sick and well I believed him at first but now it seems he is hiding something. Then the other night while we were studying, he let slip that there was a healer in his family and I just didn't understand how a woman could be that ill with a healer so close to her grasp. It's just, I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

Sky was infuriated, how dare Lily ask her such a thing. On one side, she was completely right, but on the other, when in her right mind did she think that Sky would ever rat out her best friend. "It is what it is Lily." Is all she said.

"Yes, but there just seems to be a bit of a pattern to it, don't you see? I mean if you knew anything I think we all deserve to know, I mean he's our friend as well as he is-"

It was done here, Remus was _her _best friend, and he had the right to keep secret what he wanted. Nobody _deserved_ to know anything but Sky and that was just the way it was, "If you want my opinion Lily, I think you should just keep your nose out of other people's business. Remus is the most honest person I have ever come to know and if you think there is something there that you should know, you can ask him rather than crawl around behind his back and try to get it out of other people."

Sky pushed herself off the windowsill and grabbed her notebook. She unzipped and pulled off her gray hoodie sweatshirt being as she was becoming heated with anger. _She has some nerve_ was all that was flying through Sky's mind. Before Lily even had a chance to speak again, Sky was walking down the hallway stomping her army green combat boots on every tile.

* * *

April rolled around and still the boys were nowhere closer to unveiling Remus's secret, James still was having no luck catching Lily's attention, Sky and Lily still hadn't overcome their differences, and no one was remotely close to forgetting about Severus's boggart. Sirius and Peter were still very keen on discovering what it was that Remus was hiding but James was preoccupied with the upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin. Along with April came the typical April showers, so naturally Anthony was adding in extra practices as to not let the weather conditions hinder the team.

Peter and Sirius had made it a habit of joining James as he walked down to practice; it was their only opportunities to get away from Remus and the rest of the nosey ears of the common room. Though their observations they had discovered that there was in fact a pattern to Remus's absences; not only was he leaving once a month but it was typically for two to three days. The boys had even made use out of James's invisibility cloak and confirmed that Remus was in fact making a trip through the secret passage of the Whomping Willow every time. It was just like the first time they had followed him, he would leave with Professor McGonagall, meet up with Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing where he also left his bags, and together they would walk down to the passage.

"So you're sure it's once every month?" asked James as he stopped right before he left the castle to run out to the Quidditch pitch in the pouring rain.

"Yes, Peter and I checked it like a hundred times, didn't we Peter" answered Sirius as he turned to his shorter friend.

"Yep, positive James, according to all the notes we've been taking, he hasn't missed a month yet."

"Well, it's defiantly something we have to keep our eye on, but I got to get going before Witlin whips me for being late…I'll see you guys at dinner!"

Sirius and Peter waved goodbye to James as he threw up his hood and made his way hurriedly over the wet grounds; as they headed back to the common room Sirius turned to Peter and said, "With all these practices Anthony's got them doing, you'd better hope we kick some Slytherin ass!"

* * *

Sky had started to take notice to the fact that Severus was suddenly never around. She had secretly grown a bit fond of Severus and enjoyed his company during potions class, but after the boggart incident the two lab partners barely spoke a word to each other and Sky couldn't have been angrier with him. Normally she would take his absences as a sign of the sneaky Slytherin planning another attack on her and her friends, but technically it was _their_ turn, so where was he? Remus never told anyone what he had said to Severus so nobody really understood why he was avoiding the Gryffindor scene when he was usually so keen to get up in their faces to rub something in. Well soon enough it was unavoidable to come into contact with each other being as it was the morning of the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game. Luckily the sky was clear and the sun wasn't too intense; perfect game day weather.

The Gryffindors made their way up the old wooden stairs to the Quidditch pitch and slowly filled in the stands. It was a warmer day so no heavy jackets and scarves were in sight. Being as this was pretty much the biggest game of the entire year, the game determined who would win the Quidditch Cup, the stadium was packed with all the houses. Sky, Remus, Peter, and Sirius got their usual seats right by the front of the stands but were unfortunately close to a handful of Slytherin fans as well. Sky took a seat while she waited for the game to start and out of the corner of her eye she could see Severus walking toward her. _What does he want,_ she thought to herself.

"Sky, could I talk with you for a moment?" Severus said quietly as he obviously didn't want to catch the attention of the others.

Sky, however, had different plans. She stood up and looked him straight in the eyes and said as loudly as she could, "What could you possibly have to say to me, Severus?"

At the name, all three Gryffindor boys, and pretty much all the other Gryffindors seated around them, turned to look in Sky's direction. Sky didn't want to talk to Severus, she was hurt and disgusted by the level to which he had taken things and all she wanted was Sirius and Remus to make him go away; and that's precisely what they did.

Usually things at Hogwarts were handled with wands and spells, but not today, today the boys took matters into their own hands. The two boys look each other in the eyes and Remus walked around Sky and grabbed Severus by one arm making sure he didn't have a chance to run away while Sirius got very up close into his face, "If you ever pull a stunt like that again Snape, I will personally make sure you never see the likes of this school again."

"I was just going to apologize to her…" argued Severus as he tried to pull away from Remus.

"Apologies are just words, they don't mean anything and you saying you're 'sorry' won't mean anything either. You can bet this isn't the end of it Snape."

"Is that a threat, Black?"

Sirius laughed and almost evil laugh that all Blacks carry and said, "You can bet on it."

Remus let go of Severus and walked back over to Sky to sit down. Severus and Sirius just looked each other in the eyes without moving. The Gryffindors around Sky began to giggle a bit, Sirius had pretty much just made a fool out of Severus; he had gotten completely denied. Finally, not being able to stand there and be laughed at any longer, Severus turned around and walked away. Sirius laughed and joined his friends as the game finally began.

* * *

_Oh my lord, sorry it took me sooooo long to update. I just moved back to my college town and have been totally swamped with my dance team and classes! I've been trying to stay updated with all of your stories too so sorry if I'm a little behind! Hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm still having a ton of fun writing it! Review please!_

_-DC_


	10. Win or Lose

Chapter Ten: Win Or Lose

The sky started to grow dim as the game went on; it must have been one of Hogwarts longest Quidditch games to date. Gryffindor was on top of their game but Slytherin wasn't giving in so easily. Just before the sun set Gryffindor caught the snitch and the game was finally over. The stands erupted with cheer because most of the students there were rooting for Gryffindor. As Anthony made his way back up to the castle, giant golden Quidditch Cup held high above his head in victory, he announced for the celebrations to commence within the hour and, feeling very grateful, he invited all the houses.

People everywhere were rushing back to their dormitories to get ready for the big party. Sky, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all anxiously looked for James who had been swallowed by the crowd of celebrating fans. Finally, James's messy head of hair appeared out of the crowd as he came running towards his friends, a huge smile plastered across his face. He jumped onto Sirius and Sky as they all congratulated him on the game.

"That game was incredible James! That one catch you made from Adien when that mess of a Slytherin chaser Craig almost knocked her off her broom was amazing!" exclaimed Sky as she linked arms with James as they all headed up to the castle.

"How about when Riley nailed Slytherins' keeper right to the grounds, ha, opened up the goals for the next two shots!" said Sirius.

James patted his friend on the back and said, "It was pretty amazing, I just can't wait to get changed out of this uniform and start to celebrate! Witlin got a bunch of cases of butter beer and some fire whiskey; he's got the hookup over in Hogsmead and he picked them up last weekend."

Remus smirked and remarked, "So Anthony was already planning on celebrating last week?"

James turned to Remus and laughed, "Win or Lose, we were going to need the fire whiskey!"

* * *

Once back to the tower the five friends departed and headed up to their rooms to get ready for the shindig that was bubbling up down in the common room. Sky rushed her way up the stairs and instantly started digging through her closet trying to pick out what to wear. As she was being engulfed by the tall wooden armoire, Audrey and Bridget came out of their bathroom.

"Hey Sky! You're going to the party I assume?" asked Bridget as she held up a pair of dark wash jeans next to a pair of light wash, obviously unsure of which she should wear.

"Naturally! This is going to be the biggest party of the year, it's not everyday we sneak half the castle into this tiny tower! Wear the dark wash; they'll look better with that top."

Bridget smiled and ran back into the bathroom to change her pants. Audrey sat down on Sky's bed and asked, "So, are you going to hook up Bridget with Remus or not?!"

Sky stopped and turned to her roommate, pair of shorts in her hands, "Remus is a difficult person to understand and though the two of us are attached at the hips he still has a mind of his own and there is really nothing I can do to help Bridget anymore than I already have. All I can say is she needs to take her time with him, he's a very closed person and hard to get close to."

"Yeah, I've gotten that impression from him, I think that's what makes him so attractive, he's very mysterious. I on the other hand have all eyes on Sirius and James, those two are so dreamy!"

Right as Audrey began to giggle at the though of James and Sirius, Bridget was joining her on Sky's bed. Finally Sky pulled out a cream colored chiffon dress and pulled it over her head as the other two witches continued to go on about how excited they were to get downstairs. As Sky made her way over to the full length mirror the girls all shared, Lily entered the room. Lily and Sky hadn't spoke since their little argument in the hallway referring to Remus so naturally Lily went straight over to her dresser to get ready for the party without a word to any of the three girls in the room.

Audrey rolled her eyes at Lily as she popped her head into the bottom of Sky's armoire. She pulled out a pair of black pumps and threw them Sky's way, "Wear these; they'll look awesome with that dress!"

"Thanks Audrey! Well, I think I'm done here, I'm going to go see what the guys are wearing, they always dress up so cute and I love to throw in my two sense of course" stated Sky as she ran some mascara over her long eyelashes.

As Lily looked through her dresser she quietly whispered to herself, "When don't you."

Audrey and Bridget, trying to avoid conflict, hurried back into the bathroom to finish up their hair and makeup. Sky, not being deaf, slammed her mascara down on the vanity, stared Lily down through the mirror, then turned around and left the room.

* * *

The sky was dark and the hours were running late but the castle was definitely not asleep. After curfew had passed, students throughout the castle were carefully making their way through the halls to avoid running into Filch. Anthony had arranged for mostly upperclassmen that were friendly with the Gryffindors to come to the party but naturally everyone wanted to crash it. He paid one of the Gryffindor freshmen to stand out in the hallway and let specific people in but the wizard was easily persuaded. A number of batted eyelashes, threats, and jinxes later and the tower was filled to the max.

The music was playing and the celebrating had begun. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, regardless the mass of mixed houses within the room. James and Sirius were off getting some drinks together for the group while Sky sat with Remus and Peter. Bridget and Audrey had joined them and were sitting between the two boys. All was well until Sky noticed a certain greasy haired boy enter the room. Her stomach dropped, not in the way it drops when you get excited but in the way it drops when you feel extremely uncomfortable and upset.

"Who the bloody hell let him in here?" she spit out to the whole group without even thinking.

Remus leaned around Sky only to see Snape with a small group of Slytherins wandering into room, "I think we all made it pretty clear for him to stay away."

Sky leaned close to Remus and whispered, "Remus I just can't do this, I can't stay here. I can deal with him in class where he has a right to be but in our common room… he doesn't belong here! I won't put up with him any longer, if he comes near me I swear I'm going to scream- "

Remus looked down and noticed Sky's hands. She hand both fists clenched together and there was a red glow slowly growing around them. "Sky, your hands."

She looked down at her hands and surprised by her own magic's reaction to her anger and frustration she jumped up out of her seat, "I…that's never happened before."

"Well, I think we showed up just in time…Sky, from the looks of that red hot anger you need to relax a bit." Sirius walked up to Sky handing her a shot glass, James alongside, "We just saw Snivellus walk in with that butch blonde chick and my idiot brother. Forget about it, we're going to have a great night and celebrate the success of James and the rest of our Quidditch team!"

Sirius grabbed the large bottle of firewhiskey from James and poured the whole table a nice hearty shot, held his glass high, and purposed a toast to a continuation of an amazing year.

Sky smiled clinked cups with Sirius and yelled, "Cheers to that!" then poured the whole crowd another round.

About an hour and ten rounds of shot later and the tower was pulsing with excitement. On the far end of the room, Anthony, Julie, and Adien were found dancing on a table singing in keys which could only be heard by dogs while Remus, Sirius, and Peter were laughing and making a complete idiotic but priceless scene of themselves. James was found flirting insanely with the Hufflepuff chaser Abigail in a very public corner being laughed at by Bridget, Audrey, and Sky who were sitting casually on the couch. Sky had finally relaxed and the three girls' were girl talking the night away. Their chat mostly consisted of how big of a jerk Severus Snape was, how cute the Gryffindor Quidditch team was, and how Lily Evans couldn't stop watching James charm Abigail.

"Don't you love how the moment James turns his attention onto some other girl, Lily wonders why he isn't hitting on her!" laughed Bridget as she leaned over onto the table knocking over Audrey's shot of firewhiskey.

Audrey nodded her head and continued, "Hey, you are pouring me a new one! Anyways, James is adorable; I don't understand why he hadn't moved onto different girls sooner. Lily made it pretty obvious she wasn't interested…but she obviously enjoyed his attention to some point!"

Right as Sky was about to comment at the fact that Lily would probably call James pig headed tomorrow morning, a very familiar face appeared behind the couch.

"Hey."

Sky excused herself from the couch and walked over to the dark haired boy who she couldn't quite figure out. Like before, his shoes were untied and his hair was all over the place but she couldn't walk away from him with eyes like that.

"Regulus, fancy running into you here."

"Well, I figured it'd be a nice opportunity to mingle" he said with a smirk, he obviously had alternative motive.

Having had started the night with a bottle of Hogsheads Firewhiskey, Sky was into the fact that Regulus snuck into the Gryffindor tower, a place where he was obviously not welcome. "So who let you and your green and silver friends in?"

"Wouldn't you love to know how we got in?" He stepped closer to Sky and looked her straight in the eyes, "Want to dance?"

"Of course," she answered as she stumbled her way over to the tall boy, with those piercing gray eyes, there's no way she could say no.

* * *

The light hit hard like a brick, there was a loud buzzing noise, and she felt like the world was about to explode. Sky opened her eyes to find herself hanging uncomfortably halfway off a bed that wasn't hers. In fact, just by turning her head she was able to make out what looked like two more bodies curled up on the floor in a pile of blankets. _What in bloody hell happened last night?_

She sat up a bit to see that she was hanging off the side of Remus's bed in the boys Gryffindor dormitory. Remus was asleep in the bed and had obviously pushed her off halfway through the night, her not feeling a thing in her drunken state. She climbed up onto the bed again sitting at the end examining the rest of the room. It was absolutely hilarious, whatever had happened last night it had most defiantly been fun. The two bodies on the floor happened to be James and Audrey, James still clasping a firewhiskey bottle to his body like a stuffed animal. Sirius and Peter were both sprawled across beds, neither being their own while Bridget was curled up in which ever one it was that was left over. Most interestingly, Frank Longbottom was not alone in his bed…somehow Alice had made her way up to the dormitory as well.

Sky suppressed a laugh, half because she didn't want to wake anyone, half because it hurt her head. Suddenly Remus stirred in the bed and eventually sat up looking at Sky, "Well good morning sunshine."

Sky smiled and rubbed her eyes, "Well it'd be a better morning if I could remember the end of our night"

"Good thing for Sirius's sake then." Remus replied subtly.

Sky uncovered her eyes and lowered her voice, "What on earth is that supposed to mean!?" She knew there was a reason second years shouldn't drink firewhiskey.

"Well, it's just that you caused a bit of a feud last night. Being all friendly with Regulus and all… he sort of yelled at you, over-reacted really."

After he finished there he got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Sky being completely dumbfounded by what Remus had said jumped off the bed and hop scotched her way around the bodies following him. She entered the bathroom behind him and closed the door.

"Remus, what exactly happened? I remember seeing Regulus and he asked me to dance but after that it's all a bit of a blur."

Suddenly the door opened behind them, "Yeah since when were you and Regulus all buddy-buddy anyhow?" said James as he entered the bathroom to join the conversation that had awoken him.

"Well, I've never had a huge problem with him; we talk occasionally when we see each other. I just didn't find it necessary to inform you all of who I talk to every second of the day. Sorry."

"How funny was Sirius's face when he saw Sky dancing with Regulus? I think he shoved over like four people trying to get to them!" They all turned back to the door as Audrey came into the bathroom. She walked over to one of the three bathroom sinks and made a disgusted look at herself in the mirror.

"What? You saw it all?" asked Sky being completely embarrassed she was the only one who seemed to forget the end of the night.

Audrey laughed and replied, "Oh Sky don't feel bad, all I remember is Sirius rushing his way over to Regulus, pulling you two apart and that's where it all goes dark for me. Why else do you think I would sleep on the bloody floor! I couldn't physically make it onto a bed."

Sky was starting to find this all extremely hilarious and a little less embarrassing, _note to self: when it starts to taste like water…stop drinking it. _"So anyone remember what happened after that?"

In came Peter, "Anthony kicked the Slytherins out of the tower and Sirius started yelling at you for fraternizing with the 'enemy'. Then-"

"Then, oh this was the best part, then you told Sirius to lighten up he should be happy that 'his best mate is making out with some hot broad'." Finished Bridget who squeezed herself into the bathroom while laughing.

They all dropped their jaws most having forgotten that portion of the night and everyone slowly turned to James. James blushed a bit and made his way into the closest bathroom stall. They all exchanged looks and then burst into laughter; it slowly was all coming back, James and Abigail making out in the corner of the Gryffindor common room and Sky using it as a distraction to get Sirius's attention off her. As soon as Sirius turned his attention to find James she bolted for the staircase colliding with Remus who sneakily helped her up the stairs where they both passed out in his bed for the night. Eventually the rest of the second year gang made their way up to the same room to end their night.

"Well, let's just hope that Sirius isn't still upset with you for fraternizing with the enemy." joked Remus as he made his way to brush his teeth.

"Hey James, what ever did happen to Abigail?" asked Sky as her and Audrey made their way over to the stall in which he was hiding.

He opened the door doing a ridiculous imitation and retaliated, "If we keep bringing it up then I'll make sure Sirius remembers how you were all dirty dancing with his brother!"

"Oh give me a break we were not!" yelled Sky as she pushed James face back behind the door of the stall.

When the group made their way back into the dormitory after their little gossip group in the bathroom they found Alice had snuck off, most likely back to the girls dorms, leaving poor Frank to sleep alone in his bed. The girls exchanged looks and giggled. Finally Sirius started to show signs of life.

"What is that noiseeee?" he groaned at the girl's laughter.

"Only us Sirius! Good nights sleep?" asked Bridget as she looked down at him on the bed.

"I think I would've slept a little better had my friends kept away from my goon of my brother. Didn't see me groping Snape did you Sky?!" he bit back quite unexpectedly.

The smile dropped off Sky's face, Sirius was actually mad at her. Remus, James, and Peter grabbed Bridget and Audrey giving them the sign they should all leave the room. Before they all headed downstairs James ran over to Franks bed shaking him awake, "Hey mate, you may want to evacuate the premise before you get caught up in the Black-White war that's brewing in here!"

Frank sat up looking at Sky and Sirius staring at each other; that Black stubbornness showing through as bright as ever and that White attitude ready to fight right back. His eyes grew wide and he jumped out of bed following James down to the common room.

"You can not honestly be serious-" started Sky but she was quickly interrupted.

"I can't believe you Sky! I really thought I knew you well and that we were all peachy keen friends but here you are just like the rest keeping secrets and lying. You know I get enough of that at home," at this point he was out of the bed towering over Sky who'd never felt so small "and I really don't expect to find that sort of trash at school. If you want to keep secrets, want to keep talking to my brother, lying for Remus, then go ahead! But stay the hell away from me because I get enough of it at home and I'm sick of it."

Tears welled up in Sky's eyes. She hadn't expected that…at all. Sirius just sort of lost it and let everything out, no need to hold back. She was lying to him but that she had to do and if that's the way he wanted it then that's how it would be.

She stood up tall and look Sirius straight in the eyes so he would _know_ she was telling the truth and replied, "Trust me Sirius; you're really going to feel like a complete ass when you figure it all out. I would do the same thing for you."

And she left the room leaving Sirius in a cloud of questions. He stood there wondering if what he had said, the way he had just handled his tiny bit of frustration was really the way to go about it.

* * *

_So I haven't updated in a decade because I've been swamped with school work, but it's summer again so I'm back to my little hobby of writing this story :) Hope you all enjoy it and as usual, I like constructive criticism and reviews...I just hope you have fun reading it because I have fun writing it._

DMC

* * *


	11. I've Figured it Out

Chapter Eleven: I've Figured it Out

Sky slammed the door to the boy's dormitory and leaned her back against it. _What just happened?_ She thought to herself. Sirius was always so laid back and fun but suddenly there was an entire new look in his eyes. She started to realize that Remus wasn't going to get by easy much longer; she knew Sirius and she knew that he would stop at nothing until things were his way.

Suddenly she heard some whispering nearby and realized she wasn't alone. She lifted her head finally pulling her eyes away from her tiny feet she had been staring at only to see her second year schoolmates piled on top of each other on the staircase trying to eavesdrop.

"What on earth are you all doing?" she asked trying to sound composed even though a million thoughts were running through her head.

Realizing they were not as sneaky as they thought the boys and girls jumped up brushing themselves off. James stepped forward and asked Sky, "Well what happened?"

"Why don't you just go ahead and ask him yourself?" she answered stubbornly as she shoved her way down the staircase and out of the tower.

Immediately, James, Remus, Peter, and Frank made their way into their room to confront Sirius and figure out what had happened while Bridget and Audrey remained by the staircase to hear for themselves. The two best friends listened intently as they heard screaming and shouting coming from behind the door. It had started off with James saying something calmly to Sirius, and then Sirius's voice began to rise as it became a yelling match between him and Remus. After the argument remained around Remus and Sirius the girls could only hear the other three boys attempting to step in every so often with much failed attempts of de-escalating the situation.

Suddenly the door burst open causing the two girls to jump out of the seats. A very flustered looking Remus came storming out of the room and headed down the staircase in the same direction as Sky. Frank soon followed but not because he was angry, "I am getting as far away from this as I can, I don't even know what they're arguing over really."

Audrey and Bridget nodded at him as he went down to the common room. Eventually they lost interest and returned to their bedrooms to get dressed for the day.

* * *

Sky wandered the halls of Hogwarts aimlessly wearing her wrinkled dress from the party and a pair of Remus's boxers pulled under it. Her shoes she had left in the boys bedroom and she didn't really care to go back to get them, so she let the cold tile tingle her feet as she walked. When she had awoken the sun was bright and she only felt like giggling and smiling…but the sun was gone, lost behind the April rain clouds and drops of cool water started to hit the stained glass windows of the castle. Before she knew it she was standing in her favorite spot, the stained glass window of the beautiful mermaid she knew so well.

She took a deep breath and really opened her eyes. The hallway was dark and empty. She was alone and cold regardless the warm weather outside. She sat up on the windowsill she sat on so many times before staring out at the grounds. _What am I going to do?_ The rain smacked the glass hard and the drops ran slowly down the window _I can't be honest with him; it's not my secret to tell_. The trees outside looked droopy through all the splashed water _I want to fix it, I need to fix it, but I can't. I'm not perfect. What do they expect?_ "What am I going to do?"

"Stop talking to yourself sounds like a good start." Sky looked up quickly from the window and saw her best friend standing in the middle of the empty hallway. He too was still in half his clothing from the evening before and half in his pajamas. He slowly walked over to the windowsill and sat next to Sky.

"Remus, what are you-"

"We all had an umm…conversation with Sirius."

"Conversation?"

"Well I guess I wouldn't really classify it as a conversation. We went to talk to him after you left and he well, let it go all right. 'Got any more secrets to share with us Remus? Anything you and Sky would care to share with the rest of the group? First Sky's friends with Regulus what's next Remus? Why don't you just go ahead and break the news now before I figure it out and scream it out loud for all to hear!?' It went a little something like that." Reenacted Remus

Sky felt horrible, if she had just been honest from the beginning and maybe let it known to Sirius that she and his brother weren't complete enemies he would never have reacted the way he did. "Oh Remus I'm so sorry, this is my entire fault!"

"Sky, I would never dream of blaming anyone. We knew what we were getting into when we found out I could come to Hogwarts…it was either completely isolate myself from everyone or get close to people and have to face to questions that were presented to me. I always had an intuition that they thought more about my absences than they let show. At least now we know how Sirius really feels about it. There's only a month left of school. Maybe it will just blow over."

"Maybe." Sky stared down at her feet, her shoeless small feet, chipped toenail paint and all. Just a month left, how much could Sirius, James, and Peter figure out in a month anyways. Then again, how much did they already know?

* * *

It didn't blow over. The next week and a half were as awkward as could be for everyone involved. Sirius wouldn't speak to Remus or Sky and vice versa, while poor James and Peter were stuck in between. They continued to sit with each other in classes and during meals but there wasn't a whole lot of talking between the group and their meals tended to run a bit short.

Toward the end of the second week since the silence began Remus and Sky started to spend more time away from the group and it suddenly became very apparent why.

"Bloody hell!" shouted Sirius in the middle of their lunch.

Peter and James both looked up from their sandwiches giving Sirius perplexed looks. James spoke up, "What?"

"They're doing it again. It's that time of the month when Remus goes all weird and then disappears on us! That's why he and Sky have been keeping away from us, so we didn't catch on so easily!"

James slammed his head onto the table next to his plate and Peter just stared at Sirius in disbelief, "Sirius, you barely mention Remus and Sky's names let alone speak to either of them in two weeks and now you're suddenly back on the prowl!"

"Please Sirius, the silence was actually sort of nice, a bit awkward yes, but still nice. No yelling, No arguing, just quiet." James complained with his forehead still on the table.

"Fine! My lips are sealed; you won't hear anything else about it from me. Just enjoy your silence." And with that they went back to their meal and quiet day.

* * *

Sky and Remus had spent lunch in the common room; she had run ahead early, grabbed some food then joined him. The moon was approaching and Remus was feeling it harder than usual, his current friend situation wasn't any help as well. They thought it better to spend their meals alone until after the moon so as Sirius wouldn't open his big mouth about how ill he looked or ask any questions when he found out Remus was leaving in a day.

Last moon of the month, then two weeks of school and he was home free for another summer. Home free, back at the countryside where there were no questions, no arguments, and no Sirius.

Soon the day rolled into night and the second years found themselves getting ready for bed and the start of a new school day ahead. Remus had wandered back into the dormitory later in the night having spent most of the day in the library, a place the others were sure not to go, silently changed and got into bed without a word to the others. Sirius just watched him remembering how he promised James he wouldn't say another word, but he still watched. _Tiered and Pale._

Meanwhile in the girls dormitory Sky was getting comfortable in her bed while the girls chatted as they changed into their pajamas. "So Sky, still in a silent feud with Sirius?" asked Bridget.

"Honestly, I really don't want to talk about it, it's really a stressful situation." She said as she crawled under the covers.

"Oh sorry, yeah that's understandable, I was just curious that's all."

Sky sat up in her bed and replied, "Its fine, it's just a really complicated."

Lily was sitting in her bed when she looked at Sky, "You know Sky, I don't really understand what's so important that you need to hide for Remus anyway. Maybe if you just were honest with Sirius-" she started.

"Lily please, it's none of your business-"

Lily did something she never did before; she got up out of her bed letting her blankets drop halfway onto the floor. She walked over to Sky's bed and knelt on the end of it and lowered her voice, "Sky really. Remus isn't just your friend and I know we've gotten into quarrels over this before and I really think if there's something his friends should know then you should tell us. Sometimes when you keep secrets it hurts people more than it helps."

"Lily, please" It'd been so hard for Sky trying to comfort Remus those past two weeks and not having her other friends as close as she usually had them was really staring to get to her. Badly enough that tears started to well up in her eyes, "There's absolutely nothing you need to know."

"Sky just tell me so I can help, Remus means a lot to me-"

Sky threw her hands up in a hysterical manner and, before she could control herself, screamed, "LILY JUST STOP!" then turned over and buried herself under the covers signally the conversation was over.

Shocked, and feeling a little bad, Lily got off of Sky's bed and let her be. Whatever _was_ going on between Sky and the boys it was intense because when Sky threw up her hands Lily noticed a distinctive orange glow to her hands. It drove her crazy that Sky was such a closed person but than again maybe there was more to the situation than everyone else saw. Lily got back into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Before Sky knew it, Remus was gone and she found herself by the common room fireplace with the girls working through some homework. Care of Magical Creatures class had them writing essays about different migration patterns of magical creatures and how different planet alignments affected them. Professor Gibbons, their ancient teacher, had them paired in groups, each group with a different magical creature. Sky and Bridget were working on unicorns while Audrey and Frank were working on centaurs.

"I'm telling you, that Gibbons, she just doesn't like me. I think my dad used to mess around with her in her younger days and just put in a bad name for us Longbottoms. He even told me one time how he poured a tub of flobberworms over the heads of three Slytherin girls, caused a scene he did and earned him a hardy punishment but boy did he say it was hilarious. Why else would she stick me with centaurs, they've got to have the most complicated migration patterns, I mean come on!" complained Frank as he flipped through _Centaurs: Sight and Stars_.

"Well aren't I lucky getting you as a partner!" joked Audrey as she jotted down some notes.

Sky laughed along with the rest of the gang and wished dearly Remus was there with them. _He would've found this assignment really fascinating._ She thought as she glanced out the window at the sun slowly setting and sky growing darker.

* * *

Sirius sat with Peter on his bed flipping through books about Fairies while taking notes and comparing different migration streams with charts of planets. James leaned against Sirius's trunk on the floor studying dragons being thankful that Gibbons had at least given him an interesting creature since he got gypped out of a partner due to Remus's absence.

Sirius was growing impatient and threw a handful of charts down on the floor in front of James, "I'm so sick of this, fairies as so lame and their migration patterns are even more boring. Can we please sneak down to the kitchens to get some food?"

James gathered together the charts, Jupiter, Venus, and Uranus, when he came across a few lunar charts. He pushed the others aside a pulled the lunar charts in front of him, one in particular had caught his eye. It was a lunar calendar of the year and there was something that grabbed his attention. He looked for the date, found it…then looked for another…and another…

"Blimey…" James jumped up and ran to his bed for a large leather bound dictionary. It was a dictionary that contained information on every magical creature known to the wizarding world that he had checked out of the library for their homework. He tore it open, flipping quickly through the pages, and when he reached the section he was searching for he motioned for Sirius and James to come have a look. He turned and looked back at his best friend with a look of total disbelief and said, "I can't believe it…Sirius, I've figured it out."

* * *

Sky had excused herself to the bathroom and was heading her way back downstairs when she saw James, Sirius, and Peter hurrying their way out of the tower as through someone had screamed free butterbeers in the hallway. Feeling suspicious, mainly because she most certainly recognized the silver blanket in James's arms to be his invisibility cloak he let slip he was hiding a couple weeks ago, she switched directions on the staircase and headed to the boys dormitory. Positive there was no one behind the door she entered the bedroom with no hesitation; she walked around the closest bed and what she found lying across the floor made the stomach drop.

Lunar calendars. Lunar calendars everywhere…November, December, January, February…every month. She slowly stepped closer and as she came closer she saw marks on the pages, red circles and next to the calendars was a notebook, one she had never seen before. She started to panic a little bit and as she panicked she started to move faster. She threw herself to the floor and grabbed the notebook, it was a record…she couldn't believe it, _they've been recording Remus all along!_ The small black notebook listed almost every one of Remus's absences since they were freshman along with notes such as "Whomping Willow" and "Sick Mother".

She then moved to the calendars, the circles matched the dates that were in the notebook and they matched the full moon of every month. _They know…_

She jumped up and noticed a large opened textbook on James's bed. Werewolves, the book was opened to a section on werewolves. _Bloody hell._

She ran out of the room as fast as she possibly could and headed down the stairs. She had to catch them she just had to. When she reached the common room she looked up at the schoolmates she had been studying with, "Where did they say they were going!?" she yelled.

Bridget turned around on the couch and saw the panic stricken look across Sky's face, "Sky are you alright? Are you talking about Sirius and that lot?"

"Yes Bridget it's urgent, what did they say?"

Frank stepped in, "They only mentioned something about fancying a walk across the grounds before curfew. No specifics."

"Bridget we'll have to finish the essay tomorrow, I have to go now, I'm sorry." She shouted behind her as she ran out of the common room. She couldn't let them see what was behind that door.

* * *

The three boys snuck out onto the grounds while squeezed under James's invisibility cloak. Luckily the whomping willow was also fooled by their disguise and they were able to safely hop one by one down the rabbit hole. James rolled up the cloak and left it by the entrance to the tree figuring they could pick it up later. The three of them examined the dark damp tunnel they seemed to have fallen into. It was dreary and almost untrustworthy.

"Do you guys think this is such a good idea, what if we are right, it might not be so smart to go about messing with this-" started Peter as he cowered by the wall of the tunnel.

"Peter cut it out. We're doing this. We deserve to know!" scolded Sirius as he headed his way down the dark walkway.

James shrugged his shoulders and pulled Peter in Sirius's direction. Together the three boys walked, scared, curious and fed up with lies, only wanting the truth and the truth lay at the end of the tunnel.

* * *

Sky had never felt so panicked in her life. It was no longer a matter of secrets and keeping them, it was a matter of safety and keeping her friends from making a huge mistake. She skipped steps jumping every two to make it to the ground floor in record time slamming her bare feet hard on the wooden stairs. The portraits on the castle walls flew by her in streams of colors as she rushed through the main halls of the school heading toward the grounds. The cool May air hit her in the face as she stumbled down the cement staircase at the grounds entrance. She ran onto the grass and toward the whomping willow slipping on the damp grass, she had no idea how much time she had.

* * *

"Is that a door?" asked Sirius after about ten minutes of walking through the dirt and gravel. The tunnel began to incline making the walk a bit stressful and making the boys even more curious as to where this passage headed.

"It's got to be, come on let's check it out." Replied James as he and Sirius jogged ahead to get a better look.

Peter stayed back, nervous about what they were doing, realizing that their actions could have some serious consequences. He watched as his two roommates examined the solid wooden door that lie ahead. It was old but bolted shut. Sirius tried to open the door regardless of the locks but failed to gain entrances.

"There's got to be a way to get in." inquired Sirius as he looked to James for an answer.

"_Alohomora_" shouted James as he pointed his wand at the locks and sure enough they opened.

They all stood in shock, looking at each other a bit unsure of what they were about to do. If they were right, then what was behind that door wasn't necessarily something anyone in their right mind would want to come face to face with.

Sirius took a deep breath and put his hand on the door handle, "This is it."

"SIRIUS STOP!"

They all turned to look down the tunnel; they knew that voice better than anyone and sure enough seconds after they heard the shout of desperation a distraught and barefoot Sky came sprinting toward them. Sirius's mind raced, this was his chance for reconciliation and if he didn't open that door then he wouldn't forgive himself. He turned away from the frantic girl and opened the door.

Inside he saw a dilapidated room with a single window. He looked long enough to see the most frightening image he'd ever laid his eyes on to date. The moon was just rising into the dark night sky and lying on the floor was Remus. Only it wasn't Remus, it was a dark sick version of the boy he knew to be Remus. The boy contorted his back and turned his head locking eyes with Sirius who stood in the doorway shocked. Remus's warm friendly eyes were gone, filled with blackness and pain. It opened its jaws exposing half advanced teeth and let out a half scream, half howl that filled the tunnel with hate.

Sirius was deaf to the world behind him in the tunnel, deaf to Sky screaming at James and Peter to pull him back to close the door and suddenly he felt himself behind pulled back. Remus twitched and started to transform more into a beast like state, still unable to move from his lying position on the floor. Suddenly, Sirius saw long locks of hair fly in front of him grabbing the door handle. She turned to face Sirius and pushed him out back toward the tunnel while screaming in his face. Eventually Sirius lost his footing and fell back into the tunnel, Sky falling on top of him. James and Peter rushed forward to pull the door shut just as the beast behind the door that was no longer Remus began to stir and stand up. James undid his magic-work and locked the door only to hear a banging on the wood from the opposite side.

* * *

_Oh Uh! The secrets out! Haha Hope you enjoy! And a special thanks to Rekahneko and Blackdaughter for reviewing after such a long pause in updates, love the loyalty to the story!_

_DMC_


	12. Do or Die till the End

Chapter Twelve: Do or Die till the End

James let his back fall against the door bracing himself because his knees felt weak. The banging continued for a minute or two shaking the entire door causing James to push hard against it afraid the beast would break through. He closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath trying to take in everything that had just happened. No more secrets, that's for sure. Then there was the look he caught on Remus's face, if you could even call what he saw behind the door Remus, when he pulled the door shut; contorted and angry yet afraid and weak. James took another deep breath and opened his eyes.

Sirius picked himself up from the ground with his arms and did a slow backwards crawl until he felt the strong wall of the tunnel hit his back. They all watched as Sirius lifted his face looking Sky in the eyes who was a foot away from him on her hands and knees. Peter fell to his knees no longer having the strength to stand. Everyone was silent.

Sky crawled closer to Sirius and finally broke the silence. Her voice was trembling and small, "Don't you see Sirius, don't you see how horrible it is?"

Sirius's mouth dropped open trying to speak but he couldn't find the words, he only watched as Sky's beautiful eyes welled up with crystal clear tears. He lifted a hand up and whipped them off of her cheeks. Sky took his hand into her own and looked into his eyes searching for some sort of answer, "Sirius, say something."

All he could do was pull his hand back to himself and rub them over his eyes. He was feeling overwhelmed and a little sick; he was starting to wish he'd left the door shut. Through his fingers Sky was able to make out Sirius's mumbling; it sounded like he was trying to hold back tears as well, "You were right, I feel like a complete ass."

He took his face out of his hands and Sky's heart dropped when she saw the deep grey eyes she knew so well glossed over and a single tear running down Sirius's face. She immediately threw her arms around her friend and pulled him into a warming hug for she knew exactly what he was feeling. It was just like the moment they told Remus and his family what would be; she remembers it like the day she met him, clear as ever. Sitting in Remus's living room, not being aloud upstairs, waiting for any news…it really was her fault. She hugged Sirius closer because the feeling was rushing back to her.

Before the two embracing friends knew it James and Peter were down on their knees comforting them; they could all sense it, things were going to change.

* * *

Remus was absent from school longer than they had expected. After the night of the full moon they returned to the tower where they went to sleep awaiting the morning where they would hopefully see Remus in classes, when he didn't return immediately Sky reassured the guys that usually he spent a day or so in the hospital wing recovering. Yet, it had been more than a day or so and they were starting to worry.

The hospital wing was run by a prehistoric woman all the students called Madam Tibbey; she was small and frail and moved at the speed of a hasty turtle. Even though all the teachers were aware that Sky knew of Remus's condition Madam Tibbey never let her in to see Remus after a full moon, she'd always shake a finger in Sky's face and scold, "Not you again Miss. White! You and your friends send enough students my way everyday, I don't need you in here causing any more problems!"

But then there was Poppy. Poppy was Madam Tibbey's assistant, she was younger than the old bat so she was much more understanding to Sky's dilemmas, if she couldn't sneak Sky in to Remus's private quarters she was at least able to relay messages and give her news on his condition. So Sky figured she'd take a stroll by the hospital wing and see if she could get an update.

"Oye Poppy!" Sky called as she saw the older blonde woman pushing a cart into the hospital wing.

"Sky, dear, is there something the matter?"

Sky caught up with the medical assistant and helped her push the cart into the hospital wing, looking around cautiously to make sure Madam Tibbey wasn't there. Poppy smiled, "Don't worry Sky, she's not here, seems there was some incident over in the greenhouses that she had to go tend to. Now what can I help you with?"

"Well it's just that Remus has been gone for longer than usual and I wanted to make sure he was alright. I've just wanted to talk to him about some stuff."

"Oh dear, of course, it seems that this month was a bit rougher than usual. That's all it is really, we just wanted to make sure all his scratches are healed up before we send him back into classes."

"Is there anyway I could see him?"

Poppy's smile faded, "Sorry Sky, not this time, he was a bit weird when he came in the other morning and he asked to be left alone, no visitors but don't worry he'll be out in no time." And with that she left Sky standing in the middle of the hospital wing.

At dinner that night Sky told the boys what had happened that afternoon when she tried to go see Remus. Peter put down his fork and said to the group, "You think he's real mad at us, you know for sneaking around and such. Maybe that's why he's been gone so long, milking his injuries for all they're worth to stay in the wing longer?"

"This is ridiculous; he just can't hide in there forever! We all need to talk to him and I for one am sick of waiting around for him to grow a pair and come back to classes." said Sirius before he shoved a buttered roll into his mouth.

James perked up as a sneaky smile fell across his face. Sirius raised an eyebrow a said, while spitting bread crumbs all over the table, "James, that smile is way too devious for a Potter, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a Black."

He looked across the table at his best friend and said, "No not a Black, just a plan. Who ever said we had to sit around and wait for Remus to leave the hospital wing?"

It all dawned on them the second James said it…the invisibility cloak.

* * *

"Ouch! Peter that was my foot!" whispered Sirius as the four second years made their way down to the hospital wing squeezed tightly under the cloak.

"Sorry Sirius, it's too dark!"

"Here guys we've got to go this way" said James as he directed them to the right.

"James no, it's left" argued Sky.

Sirius laughed, "We need a map. It's definitely left James, come on."

James huffed and led them left instead and of course the hospital wing was found just around the corner. It was pitch black throughout the castle, the only light being moonlight that the windows let in. It was way past curfew, almost one in the morning, so the hospital staff was sure to be asleep leaving the hospital wing completely unoccupied except for the exact person they were looking for.

"Coast is clear." James announced as he pulled the invisibility cloak off him and his friends making them visible to the empty room they stood in. The room was quite large with plain white hospital beds lining the walls on each side. A small night stand was found to the left of each bed and a long rolling cart at each foot. The hospital wing was dimly lit by tiny floating candles and at the far end of the room there was a long white curtain pulled across from one wall to the other.

"That's where Remus stays." Said Sky as she pointed toward the curtain.

"Not really high security is it?" remarked Peter

"Well Peter, he's a danger to no one after the moon so there's no reason to keep him all isolated. The only reason he's even behind a curtain is to keep his story straight."

Peter nodded understanding Sky's reasoning then looked to the other boys. James signaled for them to go ahead with their plan. Like he had said at dinner, if Remus wasn't going to have to guts to face his friends and come to them than they were going to him. They wanted to see Remus, wanted to hear his story and understand his pain. They wanted to strengthen the friendship that they all shared and that they could not do with Remus hidden in the hospital wing for days. So with that in mind, the four teenagers made their way toward the white curtain.

* * *

Remus was half asleep for his fourth night in the hospital wing. He hadn't been able to truly sleep a deep sleep ever since the full moon. The last thing he remembered was lying on the dusty wooden floor of the shrieking shack transforming for yet another night when he heard the door open and Sirius Black standing in the doorway stunned. Next thing he knew he was lying once again on the same floor weaker than ever with Madam Tibbey leaning over him. He'd been in the hospital wing ever since not daring to leave for he knew what was waiting for him, judging eyes and discriminating faces.

"Shhh shut your trap or you'll wake him!" came a harsh voice.

"Um, isn't that why we're here?" replied a sarcastic second.

"Don't be such a prat."

Then Remus heard a soft third, "Guys, shut up and get on the bed."

"Wait guys I think he's awake." and there was the mousey fourth.

Remus opened his eyes and saw not the last thing he expected, but the thing he dreaded most. "I was starting to wonder when you would finally show up." He announced in a weak, scratchy voice.

Sky crawled up on the bed next to him putting an arm around his shoulders while the three boys sat by his feet which he had pulled up closer to his body for comfort. He knew it wouldn't be long before they showed; his friends were a stubborn and determined group of boys. He looked slowly from face to face trying to read what they were thinking and to his surprise they looked more worried than disgusted.

"Remus, how are you feeling?" asked Sky grabbing Remus's attention again.

"I'm not really sure yet, it's been a rough couple days." There was an awkward silence then Remus decided to speak up again, "Well, you all sneak down here in the middle of the night and none of you have anything to say?"

The boys exchanged looks hoping the other would speak up. Sky had told them she was leaving the talking up to them considering the fact that Remus understood where _she_ stood in the whole situation. So James finally decided to start the process, "Um well, what exactly is it like to be a were-"

"What's it like to be a werewolf? You guys sneak around behind my back rather than just trust me and invade my privacy and all you have to ask is what its like!?" Remus couldn't believe what he was hearing, his heart was racing and all he wanted to do was scream, "I'll tell you what it's like James. Waking up everyday having to worry about whether or not your friends are going to find out, being afraid to tell them because of what they would think, dreading that one night out of the entire month, fearing the night even when you know there's no full moon. Lying in that dingy old house alone trying so hard to be aware and see through your own eyes but not strong enough to fight off the beast that's tearing through your skin….it's horrible James, the most horrible thing a person would ever have to live with and of course…I do."

Sky pulled Remus towards her letting his head rest on her chest as he choked back tears. She could see this was hurting him and she knew it was the last thing he wanted but she also knew that after the boys knew everything and Remus understood that they still were there for him everything would be ok. So she didn't stop them, she just held Remus and let it all happen.

James leaned forward on the bed, "No, Remus I'm sorry that's not really what I meant by it. It's just; you need to understand where we're coming from. We got nosey and curious, some a little more than others,"

He said as he looked at Sirius, "and it just came as such a huge shock especially when we actually realized we were right."

Peter stepped in, "We just are trying to understand Remus. Cou- Could you maybe tell us how it all happened?"

Remus lifted his head off of Sky and looked at Peter, "I'm sorry. Um- yeah I can do that, Sky is that alright?"

Sky looked at Remus and nodded her head, she understood why he would ask her if she was ok with him sharing the story and she figured that they would have to hear it sooner or later. She knew it would be tough to hear the story again for they hadn't talked about it in years but she told herself to let Remus get through the entire event because the boys needed to hear it. Remus turned back to his three friends looking specifically at Sirius, who was yet to say a word,

"It all started back at home when we were about seven. We were only allowed to play in the meadows between our houses so our parents could keep an eye on us and call for us if we were needed but of course that wasn't fun enough for two seven year olds." He smiled at Sky and continued, "She was in love with the woods and I can understand why. They were enchanting, quiet and serene and still are. We used to find some of the most beautiful creatures, even saw a unicorn once. But I guess we started to get carried away and each time we felt the need to go further and further in search of something new. We'd been up to our adventures for about two months, our parents had no clue. Then one night came the full moon."

Remus shifted in his seat and took a deep breath, "Sky was picking flowers, her moms' always teaching her how to tie them together into bracelets and such and Sky loved to bring them back from the forest. It was getting late and I told her we should head home and I started to make my way back towards my family's cottage. I turned back to notice Sky hadn't been following me when I heard her scream…"

He stopped and seemed unable to continue. Sky saw the look on his face and thought she should help him out even if it did mean telling the worst part of the story herself, "I screamed because there was a man. We'd never seen people in the woods, a centaur or two from a distance was the closest we ever came, but there was something odd about this man. He was stumbling towards me with his hands outreached as though asking for help but when he looked at me I knew help wasn't what he wanted. He wanted me. You could see his sick desire in his eyes and I just thought he was mad but then it happened, the moon came out all the way and well…he transformed. It was a werewolf, we'd only ever read about them in books and it was almost as if they weren't real but there he was, big and very real. He just looked so evil coming towards me and I thought it was over, but that's when Remus showed."

She looked at Remus and rubbed a warm hand across his back shoulders, "I remember him coming up behind the man who had to have been three times our size and nailing him in the back of the head with a large branch. The werewolf fell to the ground and Remus grabbed me and pulled me into a sprint back towards the valley." Tears slowly started to roll down her cheeks but she continued, "Then as we were running we got pulled back. It was the werewolf, he'd caught up with us and lunged for Remus knocking him to the ground and before I knew it he was biting into you like you were just some meal" she looked Remus in the eyes, "It was my entire fault Remus."

Remus whipped the tears from her face and looked at the guys, "She's crazy I tell you, if it weren't for her of course I wouldn't be a werewolf…I'd be dead. Before we were ever old enough to use magic or own wands Sky was causing things to happen without even thinking about it. It was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen a witch do but somehow she's never been able to do it again. She dropped down to the ground, as though there was no thought behind it, and ran her fingers into the dirt, the ground all around her lit up and suddenly these weeds shot out of the ground and shot straight at the werewolf. He was thrown off me and eventually ran away. It was brilliant."

"Brilliant! Remus you were almost killed, it wasn't brilliant it was lucky."

"Sky, it's in the past now and we can't change what I am so I might as well admire your incredible magic for what it was. Either way she got rid of him then helped me up and we made it back to my home where my parents contacted St. Mungo's Hospital. That's how it happened; Dumbledore's the only headmaster to allow me to attend his school."

"Did they ever identify the man who bit you?" asked James

"Actually yes they have, but they don't know much about him. Like most werewolves he's unattached to society, unemployed and unapproachable but he goes by the name Greyback. Apparently, he even bites people when he's not transformed. It's sick really."

Again they all fell silent; taking in everything that Remus and Sky had told them. No wonder they were so close, look at what they'd been through. Even though it was Remus who was the werewolf, Sky was right there when it happened and felt just as responsible as anyone but of course there was Remus thanking her for preventing worse.

The handsome but worn out boy looked up at his three roommates. His eyes were filled with hope and need for acceptance from them and said, "I can't change what I am, and all I can do is pray that you'll accept me for that."

Finally Sirius spoke up, "I have something to show you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large ring. It was gold and held a black onyx diamond; the sides of the ring were carved out to the letter 'B'. He held it out flat in his hand out to Remus, "Ever seen this?"

Remus examined the ring then shook his head no.

"That's because it sits in the bottom of my school trunk as deep down as I can get it wrapped in an old pair of socks. It's my Black family ring, we all have one. You see Remus, I hide it. I hide it as if it not being seen makes it not exist but it doesn't. No matter what I do with this ring I will be what I am, a Black, and there's absolutely nothing I can do to change that. All we can do is embrace _what_ we are and prove people wrong…that's why I keep it, to remind myself _what_ I am and _who_ I want to be. We couldn't possibly judge you Remus; you're a better person than anyone in this room regardless of _what _you are."

A smile fell across Remus's face as he clasped his hand on Sirius's shoulder. Sirius smiled back as he shoved the ring he hated so much back into his pocket. There wasn't anything left to say, they all looked at one another and understood the unspoken sense of companionship. Just then, Peter spoke up, "Let's make a vow!"

Sky giggled and asked, "What kind of vow Peter?"

"I don't know something about always being there for each other."

"And always being truthful and loyal." added Sirius.

James laughed, "I love how the Black throws in the bit about being truthful, you're the king of lying through your teeth!"

Sirius punched James in the arm, "Marauders for life."

Peter looked at Sirius, "Marauders? What's a marauder?"

"You know, like a prowler, those people who go around causing trouble; always searching for something bigger."

"Sirius, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard-" started Remus as he laughed.

Sky interrupted him, "No way Remus, I like it! I mean half the time that's what we're doing, sneaking around and causing trouble."

"Yeah, I mean look at us now, sneaking around after curfew." inquired James.

Suddenly Sirius pulled out his wand and announced, "Incendio!" lighting the tip on fire. He turned to James and told him "Give me your left hand."

"Why?

"This is why." He said as he jabbed himself on the top of his hand between his thumb and pointer finger. "Come on" and he passed the wand to James.

James did the same and passed it to Peter, then Sky, then Remus. They all flinched with pain of but didn't argue; they all burned themselves in the same place willingly and happily.

Remus smiled and as he handed the wand back to Sirius he said, "Well than so it be, shall we vow to always be Marauders. Do or die till the end."

Remus's secret was out; there was nothing left to hide. The five friends only grew closer and learned to understand each other better. The rest of the school year went by in a flash, from the end of classes to exams, from the farewell feast to the train ride back to platform nine and three quarters. The ride home was the same as always, full of laughter and stories, but one thing was different… they all didn't see it as the ride home. Home was back at the castle where there were no secrets and the friendships were stronger than ever.

* * *

_Sorry it took me so long to get this one up, I had it done for the most part but then I went to the Keys for family vacation without internet. But here it is, hope you enjoy! Reviews are much loved!_

_-DMC_


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